Middle and long distance running in the United States has never been better than it is today. Track athletes have been succeeding at every possible level– smashing Olympic, collegiate, and high school records across the board.
Some of these records were recently broken by athletes very close to home. The University of Washington distance team has established itself as one of the best in the country. The last five NCAA men’s championships at the mile or 1500 meter distance have been won by UW runners– the longest streak in history. UW has become known as “mile university” for its historic dominance at the event, with 11 separate Huskies breaking the four-minute-mile barrier in 2025 alone, another NCAA record.
The UW distance program is no stranger to history. In indoor collegiate track the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) is one of the most important races that shows which program has the best distance runners. The UW men’s team and women’s team have run the all-time fastest marks by any collegiate team ever, with the men’s team running the fastest DMR not just in collegiate history, but world history on February 14.
Seattle’s success is not just limited to collegiate running. UW commit Owen Powell from Mercer Island broke the national high school indoor record in the mile, running three minutes and 56.66 seconds on February 21. He joins an extremely small group of high school runners who have achieved the legendary four-minute-mile barrier. In the same race, another UW commit Josiah Tostenson from Oregon also dipped under the previous national record, running three minutes and 57.47 seconds. With these remarkable performances, UW’s historic dominance doesn’t appear to be ending any time soon.
This explosion of distance running record breaking is not just concentrated in Seattle. At the Olympics last summer, the US men came home with some serious medals in the distance races. Grant Fisher won a double bronze in the 5,000 meter and 10,000 meter races, a feat few runners, let alone US runners, have ever achieved. Cole Hocker won gold in a thrilling 1,500 meter race, setting a new Olympic record in the process. Yared Nuguse also picked up the bronze medal in that same race.
This indoor season has been record-breaking for all three of these runners. At the Millrose Games on February 8, Yared Nuguse broke the world indoor record in the mile run. In the 3,000 meters, Fisher and Hocker had a legendary battle to the line, with Fisher coming out on top in world record time as well. Both runners finished under the previous record. These historic records mark an end to a nearly 50-year drought in US running. The last time the United States held a world record in middle distance running was in 1978! All in all, there has never been a better time for Americans to be fans of track.
