Fernandez runs 3:55 mile

German Fernandez, the young phenom from Oklahoma State, won the Big 12 indoor mile over the weekend with a time of 3:55.02. The NCAA record is 3:55.0 (hand-timed), so I'm not sure if he tied it or broke it. Either way, it was an incredible performance. Fernandez has been impressing track fans for quite a while now, although I first heard of him about a year ago. He ran in the Foot Locker XC meet in high school but did not win. I really took notice of him last spring when he ran a 4:00/8:34 double for the 1600/3200 at the California state meet. That is arguably the greatest performance ever by a high school distance runner. Fernandez started college at OSU this past fall, but he was unable to win (or even finish) the NCAA XC championships due to an Achilles injury suffered mid-race. I'm not entirely convinced he could have won against guys like Rupp and Chelanga, anyway.

Now there is a lot of hype about Fernandez running a spectacular time in the 5,000 this spring. I really don't know what to think. He undoubtedly has more talent than any other American runner I've seen, with the possible exception of Alan Webb, but I just don't know if a 13:20 is in his range. Who knows - he could surprise a lot of people and go 13:10. It will be fun to watch. But first he'll be racing in the World Junior XC Championships against lots of talented Africans, so we'll see how he does there.