Oshier Helps Winner Run Sub-Four Minute Mile

Trabuco Hills senior Jantzen Oshier, who set Orange County's 1,600 record last Saturday during his victory in the CIF State Track and Field Championships in Clovis, finished fifth in the addidas Jim Ryun Dream Mile race at the 2011 adidas Grand Prix Saturday at Icahn Stadium in New York City.

Oshier, who had the fastest mile time in the nation (4:06.81) entering the meet, finished in a personal-best 4:06.51.

Lucas Verzbicas, an 18-year-old graduate of Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Ill., won the race for the second consecutive year and became only the fifth prep runner ever to finish the mile in under four minutes (3:59.71). He finished in 4:04 last year.

Verzbicas finally moved ahead of Oshier for good with about 700 meters remaining to be run. He put a small gap on the field, but New Jersey's Edward Cheserek (fourth), Indiana's Austin Mudd (second in 4:01.83) and Elias Geydon of Los Angeles Loyola (third in 4:02.08) kept the pressure on. "I couldn't have done it without all those guys," Verzbicas told SI.com.

Besides Verzbicas, who moved to the U.S. from Lithuania at the age of 8, the other high school runners to break the four-minute mile are Jim Ryun (3:55.3) in 1964, Tim Danielson (3:59.4) in 1966, Marty Liquori (3:59.80) in 1967 and Alan Webb in 2001, when he set the national high school record of 3:53.43.

In the girls mile race, JSerra senior Katherine Delaney placed 11th in 4:51.69. Harvard-Westlake junior Cami Chapus, who won the CIF state title in the 1,600 last Saturday, won the mile race in 4:42.71.

Both Oshier and Delaney will continue their running careers at the University of California Berkeley in the fall.