Rapid City's Simeon Birnbaum becomes 17th U.S. prep runner to break 4-minute mile barrier

The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
·1 min read

Jun. 16—SEATTLE — Rapid City Stevens rising senior runner Simeon Birnbaum continued his incredible 2022 season by breaking the 4-minute mile barrier on Wednesday, June 15 at a national meet in Seattle.

Birnbaum won the one-mile run in 3 minutes and 59.51 seconds at the Brooks PR Invitational. He becomes the 17th American runner to break the 4-minute mile mark while in high school since 1964.

Birnbaum set the South Dakota one-mile record for a high schooler during an April meet in California, where he ran 4:07.88, breaking a 40-year record in the process. He had the best time of any South Dakota high school runner at the state meet on May 28 in Sioux Falls, winning in 4:15.85.

He is the third South Dakotan to

break the 4-minute mile mark

, joining Madison's Jeff Schemmel and Watertown's Steve Heidenreich. Both accomplished the feat while running in college, with Schemmel at Kansas State and Heidenreich doing so at Indiana, both in the 1970s.

Of note, he's the fifth high school runner in the nation to run a sub-4-minute mile since the start of May and the second junior to do so this year.