HIS accomplishment makes a good Hawaii sports trivia question. O’Sullivan ready to run
down 100th sub-4 mileWho holds the most sub-4-minute miles ever run on Hawaii soil?
The answer is unquestionably Marcus O'Sullivan of Ireland.
The affable 35-year-old from County Cork did it three times between 1994 and 1997 in the Waikiki Mile on Kalakaua Avenue. He also clocked a 4-flat once in that span.
But those don't even count toward what he hopes to accomplish at the Millrose Games later this week.
If all goes well, he'll get his 100th sub-4-minute at Madison Square Garden and join the likes of Steve Scott and John Walker in the stratosphere of track and field.
He already owns the world record for indoor sub-4 miles: 47.
December's Waikiki Mile might've been the last we'll see of O'Sullivan racing on our island. He plans to retire after the 100th sub-4.
But O'Sullivan did allow that he might be tempted to come out of retirement for one last go at Kalakaua, simply because he loves it here.
He's talked about the "euphoric feeling" he gets in Hawaii and how warm the people make him feel. What I especially like about O'Sullivan is his willingness to share his time with local youngsters during a workout or while visiting schools.
He provided an inspiration badly needed among our youthful athletes.
THE U.S. high school record for the mile (4 minutes, 8 seconds) at the Millrose Games has stood since 1977, and that's alarming.
Only twice since 1969 has Steve Prefontaine's two-mile record of 8:41.5 been broken by high school runners.
High schoolers' interest in track and field has dwindled every year since, and the consequences are felt right through the U.S. Olympic movement.
An American man has not won an Olympic medal in a distance event since 1976.
Hard to believe that Hawaii resident Gerry Lindgren was a 17-year-old high school runner from Spokane in 1964 when he qualified for the Olympic teams.
Harder to imagine that any man could maintain O'Sullivan's body discipline long enough to hit the century mark in sub-4s.
Softer training methods and clueless coaching are blamed for the dearth of American talent these days.
But there's a decided lack of inspiration available to kids who need to identify dynamically with a track personality before the sport can take off again.
Who will fill the bill?
It could be Seneca Lassiter, the 20-year-old African-American star from the University of Arkansas who holds both the USATF and NCAA 1,500-meter titles. Or it could be 27-year-old Bob Kennedy, the 5,000-meter record holder.
There's no man around with that media-appealing combination of cockiness and explosiveness that Prefontaine possessed.
The women's side has distance stars in their mid-to-late 30s -- Mary Slaney and Regina Jacobs. Both have gravel in the gut and spit in the eye.
Burt it could be that their ages make it harder for them to connect.
ALONG comes the "Great" Aloha Run on the 16th. Let us pray, for the sake of the lead runners, that the police escorts won't be sipping coffee at some restaurant again when the gun goes off. That's what happened last year.
Let's also pray that the runners will be able to get their printed official results before the major league baseball season opens.
That seemed a rather difficult challenge for the race officials last year.
Let us pray things improve.
