Carmel's Ben Veatch checks off 'bucket list' item, is latest Hoosier to run sub-4-minute mile
Ben Veatch might run more consequential races or achieve more important victories. He will never have a more memorable moment.
Veatch won an indoor mile Friday night in 3 minutes, 59.73 seconds at Indiana University’s Gladstein Invitational in Bloomington.
He became the 13th Indiana high school graduate to run a sub-4-minute mile, 11th from IU and first from Carmel.
“It’s the most culturally known thing in track and field,” Veatch said. “It means a lot to me. It’s something I’ve had on my bucket list since middle school.”
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Coincidentally, Mt. Vernon graduate Christian Noble became the 14th sub-4:00 Hoosier just hours later. The Lee University runner was fourth Saturday at Nashville, Tenn., in 3:59.70, making him the second-fastest indoor miler in NCAA Division II history.
Veatch won by nearly six seconds and had no pacesetter after the first half of the race. But he pressed on, closing the final 400 meters in 58.65.
He crossed the tape, wobbled past the finish, tried to grab the railing, caught a spike on the bank and crumpled to the track. He conceded he didn’t like how he looked.
“I did not have control of my body at that point,” he said.
Veatch, 23, was a five-time state champion at Carmel. He has taken advantage of redshirt and pandemic seasons to be a sixth-year college runner.
His Big Ten Championships track record: 13 races, five firsts, eight seconds, one third.
Although this was his first official sub-4:00 mile, he ran 3:50 on a measured road course April 10, 2020, after the pandemic canceled the college season. It was a downhill mile with a drop of 200 feet of elevation.
Sub. 4. Mile. 🤯@bveatchxc06 clocks 3:59.73!! 👏👏#IUTF | @USTFCCCA pic.twitter.com/o6RI3G1qxh
— IU Track & Field (@IndianaXCTF) January 22, 2022
Veatch seemingly was in sub-4:00 shape when he ran a 4:01.42 mile a week ago, closing in 55.53 and finishing second to Michigan State’s Morgan Beadlescomb.
Veatch specializes in longer distances, so he does not train specifically for the mile. There are not many chances for college runners to run sub-4:00 because the outdoor distance is 1,500 meters.
“We kind of thought last weekend or this weekend, ‘Let’s go ahead and take a shot,’" Indiana coach Ron Helmer said. “As good as he looked last week, I thought he could do it.”
Since 2012, Veatch is the fifth sub-4-minute miler coached by Helmer.
Veatch said low iron levels ruined his cross-country season last fall. He has that “sorted out,” he said. Helmer said Veatch has had one of his best training blocks recently.
Veatch will try to qualify for indoor NCAAs in the distance medley relay and 3,000 meters, then the 5,000 meters outdoors.
He ran the 5,000 in 13:33.50 in the indoor NCAAs last year. Veatch aims at the IU record of 13:22.17 held since 1991 by Bob Kennedy, a two-time Olympian and former American record-holder.
Veatch, a graduate in exercise science, is pursuing a master’s degree in public health. He said he would not apply to medical school until after the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.
Sub-4-minute milers
Native Hoosiers
3:50.55 Cole Hocker, Cathedral/Oregon 2021
3:52.90 Andy Bayer, Leo/IU, 2013
3:54.56 Andy Brahm, Heritage Hills/IU, 1984
3:57.04 Rudy Chapa, Hammond/Oregon, 1981
3:57.93 Austin Mudd, Center Grove/Wisconsin, 2013
3:58.27 De’Sean Turner, Warren Central/IU, 2014
3:58.45 Matthew Schadler, Evansville Memorial/IU, 2020
3:58.85 Andrew Poore, Chatard/IU, 2013
3:59.69 Wesley Meyer, Rochester/Lipscomb, 2021
3:59.70 Christian Noble, Mt. Vernon/Lee U., 2022
3:59.73 Ben Veatch, Carmel/IU, 2022
3:59.75 Jordan Fife, Seymour/Indiana State, 2008
3:59.90 Troy Reeder, HSE/Furman, 2019
3:59.99 James Murphy, Chatard/IU, 1987
Indiana University
3:52.90 Andy Bayer, 2013
3:54.56 Terry Brahm, 1984
3:55.56 Jim Spivey, 1982
3:56.44 Sean Jefferson, 2005
3:57.61 Kyle Mau, 2019
3:57.85 John Jefferson, 2005
3:58.11 Bob Kennedy, 1991
3:58.45 Matthew Schadler, 2020
3:59.73 Ben Veatch, 2022
3:59.81 De’Sean Turner, 2012
3:59.6 Steve Heidenreich, 1975
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana University runner Ben Veatch runs a sub-4-minute mile
