8/6/17 Just got word that Daniel will skip this years attempt to prepare for cross country. He could still be the youngest to break 5 next year.
Below is just about everything you might want to know about the mile except whether Daniel Skandera will be the youngest person to ever break the five minute mile.
To find that out be at Montgomery High School, August 8th at 6 pm.
Daniel Skandera holds all the mile records for 5-9 year olds. See below.
Below is a history of the mile for both the Redwood Empire and the world.
In California the mile was the official distance used for prep races but was dropped for the 1600 meters when all races went to metrics in 1981.
A movement called “Bring back the mile” has been trying to reverse this.
1852 Cadet Marshall of Great Britan runs the mile in 4:52.
First man to break the 4 minute mile was Roger Bannister of United Kingdom on May 6, 1954.
Current record is 3:43.13 by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco on July 7, 1999.
First women to break the 5 minute mile was Diane Leather of United Kingdom at 4:59.6 on May 29, 1954.
Current record is 4:12.56 by Svetlana Masterkova, Russia on August 14, 1996.
Dan Aldridge became the first runner from the Redwood Empire to break the 4 minute mile on April 11, 1981 in San Jose becoming the 111th American to do so.
That same year, 1981, Laurie Hollingworth from Piner High had a best of 4:54.27 for 1600 meters which would have put her at just under 4:56 for the mile.
I don’t have exact info on this but believe the first sub 5 minute full mile was by Laurie while running for UC Berkeley a few years later.
October 5th, 1985 in Ukiah Great Britian’s Olympic gold medalist Steve Ovett, led an amazing six runners under the 4 minute barrier in a road mile winning in 3:55.13. All about that race.
Feb. 19th 1994 Julia Stamps, a freshman at Santa Rosa High, ran the indoor mile at the Sunkist Invitational in 4:59.99 to become the first Empire prep to break 5.
On May 7th, 1994 a race was set up to try and have the first sub 4 on Sonoma County soil but the winner Jaime Harris, Fresno State TC fell just short finishing in 4:00.4.
Rylee Bowen of Sonoma Academy has been running sub 5 miles with her fastest in 2017 being her 4:48.92 on 4/8/17 at the Arcadia Invitational. That would have broken the women’s world record until 1955.
Men’s Redwood Empire Mile Bests
3:58.44+ Dan Aldridge, Athletics West (Petaluma ’75, SRJC ’77) at Eugene, OR 5/81
4:03.24i J.K. Withers, Oregon (Cardinal Newman ’04) at HUSKY CLASSIC, Seattle 2/14/09
4:04.04+ Dan Held, (Santa Rosa H.S. ’90) at Pat Ryan Inv. SRJC 4/29/95
4:06.57i Hugh Dowdy, Colorado (Petaluma ’10) at MPSF Indoor Championships, Seattle 2/25/12
4:08.50 Reesey Byers, (SRHS ’10) SRJC 5/20/12
4:10.44 Jordan Kinley, (Maria Carrillo ’02) Providence 4/15/2006
4:11.43i Luis Luna, Eastern Kentucky (Piner ’12) Gladstein Invitational 1/21/17
4:12.64+ Jerry Siebert, ? (Willits ’56) in 1960
4:13.14+ Tim Stone, Chico (Lower Lake’71)
4:14.47 Mike Perez, Lower Lake 4/8/06 Arcadia
Road mile 3:58 J.K. Withers, Unattached (Cardinal Newman ’04) 6/2/13 Santa Barbara State Street mile
Women’s Redwood Empire Mile Bests
4:24.54i Kim Conley, New Balance (Montgomery ’04) at New Balance Games in New York 1/25/14
4:31.50i Sara Bei, Asics (Montgomery ‘01) at Millrose Games 1/29/10
4:38.39 Lauren Wallace, Oiselle (Ukiah ’08) Gent (BEL) 7/21/14
4:46.31 Julia Stamps, Santa Rosa H.S. 6/14/97
4:47.26 Rylee Bowen, Sonoma Academy, 4/15/16 Mt Sac
4:51.21i Amber Peirsol University of Vermont (Windsor ’12) at Scarlet and White Invitational in Boston.
4:53.80 Jenny Aldridge, Maria Carrillo 6/8/02
4:54.32 Jacque Taylor, Casa Grande 3/28/09 Stanford
4:54.98i Trina Cox, Abilene Christian (SRHS ’99, SRJC) at Fayetteville, AR 2/11/05
4:59.87i Jacqui Wentz, MIT (Maria Carrillo ’06) at MIT vs. Coast Guard/Williams 2/6/10
4:5? Laurie Hollingworth, UC Berkeley (Piner, SSU) 80’s
Boys High School Evolution of Full Mile
4:28.0* Larry Chapman, Santa Rosa 1914, also the state best
4:26.8 Bob Waldon, Montgomery 1966
4:23.3 Stan Maxfield, El Molino 1967
4:20.2 Butch Alexander, Sonoma Valley 1971
4:18.1 Jon Sisler, Petaluma 1974
4:16.7 Dan Aldridge, Petaluma 1975
4:15.0 Dave Royal, Petaluma 1979
4:13.16 J.K. Withers, Cardinal Newman 2004
4:12.22 Luis Luna, Piner 5/20/12
Girls High School Evolution of Full Mile
5:33.5 Dawn Gunter, Montgomery 1976
5:20.2 Stephanie Engen, Cloverdale 1977
5:09.3 Lori Shanoff, Petaluma 1979
5:06.6 Lori Shanoff, Petaluma 1980
4:59.99i Julia Stamps, Santa Rosa 1994
4:46.73i Julia Stamps, Santa Rosa 1995
4:46.23 Julia Stamps, Santa Rosa 1997
INTERNATIONAL MILE AGE RECORDS Compiled by Dominique Eisold
Age Time Name From Place Date 5 6:33.3 Daniel Skandera USA Santa Rosa CA Jul 23, 2013 6 5:44.5 Daniel Skandera USA Santa Rosa CA Aug 5, 2014 7 5:20.3 Daniel Skandera USA Santa Rosa CA Jun 9, 2015 8 5:12.1 Daniel Skandera USA Santa Rosa CA Aug 9, 2016 9 5:02.5 Daniel Skandera USA Santa Rosa CA Jun 27, 2017 10 5:01.55 Jonah Gorevic USA New York NY Jun 14, 2014 11 4:51.85 Jonah Gorevic USA New York NY Jun 13, 2015 12 4:36.80 Jeremy Kain USA Los Gatos CA Jul 13, 2017 13 4:29.0 Andrew Barnett GBR London Jun 1, 1969 14 4:19.73 Ryan Silva USA Portland OR Jun 12, 2010 15 4:08.8 Jim Arriola USA Long Beach CA Jun 1, 1974 16 3:56.29 Jakob Ingebrigtsen NOR Oslo Jun 15, 2017 17 3:56.29 Jakob Ingebrigtsen NOR Oslo Jun 15, 2017 18 3:53.43 Alan Webb USA Eugene OR May 27, 2001 19 3:51.3 Jim Ryun USA Berkeley CA Jul 17, 1966