Williams Miler Breaks DIII Record
BOSTON, Mass. – On Sunday, three athletes from the men’s track & field team – Aidan Ryan, Nate Lentz and Jinwoo Kang – competed at the 2022 Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic, in a meet that brought together collegiate and professional athletes from across the globe.
In the men’s mile, the meet’s marquee event, team captain Ryan finished in 3 minutes, 56.88 seconds, shattering the previous Division III record by three seconds, and becoming only second Division III runner, and first New England Small College Athletic Conference athlete, to break the coveted four-minute barrier. Ryan placed fourth overall, beating nearly 150 Division I and professional milers. Ryan’s mile record came mere weeks after he broke the 3000-meter Division III record, at a meet on the West Coast in early January. Ryan’s race was the 10th-fastest mile run in 2022 thus far.
“I felt that I would hang on, and would try to make it deep enough into the race that when it came time to start competing, I’d set myself up for success,” Ryan said of Sunday's mile record. “I went in knowing that, if I was going to run sub-four yesterday, I was a sub-four guy before the race started. Believing that I belonged on that start line, that was a big part of it.”
Ryan’s teammate and training partner, Lentz, also set a new personal best in the mile, finishing in 4:10.66 and besting his previous best by nearly four seconds, good for fourth in his heat and 32nd overall in the event.
The third Williams athlete to compete at the meet, fellow sophomore Jinwoo Kang, also had an excellent day. Kang set a new PR, running 1:52.76 in his first indoor 800 meters since high school. Kang’s time saw him place 24th overall.
“We’ll run a DMR (distance medley relay) at BU Valentine Invitational [in two weeks’ time]," Ryan said of his future plans. "Last time we tried, we came just short of the national record. We have a good shot of doing it in two weeks, and after that, we’ll have to do some thinking and come up with a season plan for the rest of the races.”
Williams coach Dusty Lopez said his athletes accomplished what they set out to do in Boston.
"We wanted to make the most of a great, competitive opportunity on a fast track," Lopez said. "In Aidan’s case, we’d been talking about breaking four for the mile…but for everyone, the main idea was to compete hard and use that to run fast times.
"Our BU group, and everyone who competed at Nazareth, has really embraced the idea of big swings and not being intimidated. The growth we’re seeing has been on two fronts: investment in training and good decisions, which then leads to confidence that comes from being prepared and experiencing success.”
Williams' mid-distance contingent, combined with the team’s quality and depth across all event groups, positions the team well to continue its momentum as championship season approaches.
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