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 Austin Tamagno of Brea Olinda, here winning the 800 meters during the Arcadia Invitational in April, is one of three high school runners looking to crack four minutes as part of a world-class field in the Bowerman Mile on Saturday.
Austin Tamagno of Brea Olinda, here winning the 800 meters during the Arcadia Invitational in April, is one of three high school runners looking to crack four minutes as part of a world-class field in the Bowerman Mile on Saturday.
Scott Reid. Sports. USC/ UCLA Reporter.

// MORE INFORMATION: Associate Mug Shot taken September 9, 2010 : by Jebb Harris, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

EUGENE, Ore. – Brea Olinda senior Austin Tamagno isn’t the first teenager to come to Tracktown USA with ambitious plans for the mile.

Not long after Steve Prefontaine arrived on the Oregon campus in the fall of 1969, legendary Ducks coach Bill Bowerman asked him what his mile goal for his freshman season was.

“Three-forty-eight,” Prefontaine said without hesitation.

Jim Ryun’s world record at the time was 3 minutes, 51.1 seconds.

Tamagno will attempt to become the first California high school runner in a quarter century to break four minutes in the mile at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday.

Tamagno, who is also headed to Oregon in the fall, is one of three high school runners looking to post sub-4 marks this weekend as part of a world-class field in the Bowerman Mile that also includes the last two Olympic champions, Asbel Kiprop of Kenya and Taoufik Makhloufi of Algeria.

The other two are Michael Slagowski, a senior at Idaho’s Rocky Mountain High, and Andrew Hunter of Loudoun Valley High in Purcellville, Va. Hunter is chasing Alan Webb’s national high school record of 3:53.43 set at the 2001 Pre Classic.

Slagowski clocked 3:59.53 in a high school meet in suburban Portland earlier this spring. Tamagno ran a personal best 4:03.21 earlier this season. He skipped last weekend’s CIF-Southern Section championships to focus on last Friday’s Hoka One Classic at Occidental and the Pre meet.

Tamagno ran 3:44.14 for 1,500 at the Hoka meet, a mark that suggests he is ready to challenge the state mile record of 3:59.4 set by Tim Danielson of Chula Vista in 1966.

Tamagno and his prep rivals have come to the right place with their sub-4 ambitions. One-hundred seventy-seven athletes from 22 countries have broken 4:00 at Pre since the inaugural meet in 1975. Thirteen runners went under 4:00 in last year’s meet. A record 16 athletes clocked sub-4s in 2012.

Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com