As Aidan Tooker rounded into the final 200 meters of the mile, his eyes glanced up to where they’d been for much of the race: the clock. It was against his better judgement, but he couldn’t help himself. The clock read 3:30, and Tooker knew all he needed to do was break 30 seconds on his final lap to join the elusive sub-four-minute mile club.

When Tooker sprinted across the finish line, he immediately looked for his name on the scoreboard to see if he’d done it. The three runners who had finished ahead of him popped up on the board, but Tooker’s name was nowhere to be found.

“I literally stood on the side of the track not celebrating anything just watching the board,” Tooker said. “I’ve been there before where it had been close and not happened.”

Tooker’s time popped up: 3:59.39. Tooker, his parents and Jay Navin, Tooker’s mentor and former-Northeastern runner, celebrated the career milestone in the center of the track.

At the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic, Tooker became just the fifth Syracuse runner to achieve a sub-four mile, joining Justyn Knight, Joel Hubbard, Martin Hehir and Adam Palamar in the sub-four mile club. While Syracuse’s goal is to win during the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship this Thursday through Saturday, Tooker’s personal achievement represented the next step in the junior’s development.

“I think the mile is such an understood distance, to non-runners and runners alike, that when people ask you how good of a runner you are, I think they always resort to how fast is your mile time,” junior Joe Dragon said. “The four-minute barrier is incredible. Not that many people have done it.”

For Tooker, the journey to running a sub-four mile has been as much mental as it has been physical. His freshman year, on the same track in Boston, Tooker was in the exact same position. With 3:30 on the clock and only 200 meters to go, he simply needed to continue the pace he was on to break the four-minute barrier. He faltered, though, and ran the final 200 meters in 32 seconds.

The next year, Tooker had a similar opportunity and the same thing happened on the same track again in Boston, as he finished the mile with a time of 4:02.85.

“I guess it just speaks volumes to how much of a mental game it is, it’s such a weird number,” Tooker said. “Like you literally run 60 seconds for every lap, and you’re supposed to have one spot in there that you go under.”

Tooker didn’t get discouraged. As he grew physically stronger each year, his mindset developed with his body. On the day he finally broke the four-minute barrier, Tooker’s mental approach to the race differed from the two years prior, focusing on just giving his best effort rather than obsessing on the milestone.

Tooker, who doesn’t consider himself a miler, believes the sub-four mile is symbolic of the progress he’s made as he aims to run at Nationals and score points for the team at the Conference Championship.

“I just stopped being scared of it, on that day I realized I either do it or I don’t,” Tooker said. “I’ve not done it plenty of times, and if it happens today it happens today.”

Published on February 18, 2019 at 9:20 pm

Contact Alex: athamer@syr.edu