Thursday, June 07, 2007

Jake Watson Runs Redemptive Sub-4 Mile

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade ...

Stillwater High School grad Jake Watson, a junior this season at Notre Dame, was given a bushel of lemons recently. The miler, who ran a 4:00.71 mile during the indoor season and was a finalist at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finished an out-of-the-money 7th in the NCAA Mideast regional 1500 meters.

Left on the outside looking in at this weekend's NCAA Outdoor meet, he decided to run the sour taste out of his mouth.

Watson (pictured) entered the mile at last weekend's Music City Distance Carnival and crossed the mythical sub-4 minute threshold for the first time. Watson clocked 3:59.40 for third place in the event. He now joins his brother Luke (3:57.23), who ran an 8:45.90 steeplechase at the meet himself, on the lemonade side of 4:00.

Jake Watson is also the 3rd former Stillwater Pony to break 4:00 -- Sean Graham (3:56.86) joining the Watsons in that feat. In addition, former Ponies Chris Boldt (4:01.87) and Andy Tate (4:01.91) came close to the mark.

The folks at Flotrack talked with the newly minted barrier-breaker under the floodlights in Nashville. You can watch the footage HERE.

Photo courtesy of Notre Dame University.

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