Jackson Enters Rarefied, Four-Minute Air

On January 27, Boston College junior Steven Jackson stood at the starting line of a race he'd run countless times in his track career. He numbered one of more than 230 entries in the men's mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic hosted by Boston University, but his mind offered him the opportunity to run a race against a single competitor and single figure that he'd never conquered.

He was endeavoring to do something that had never happened in Boston College program history by running a mile in less than four minutes. For any runner, the initial time of 3:59.4 set by Roger Bannister on May 6, 1954 occupied hallowed territory, but milers, the glamor runners of middle distance, saw the number as an embedded piece of their culture, a goal and club they all sought to join.

Jackson previously dreamed of running a mile in less than the time's four minutes, but the starting gun's firing started the journey that finally converted his fantasy into reality. The Reading, Massachusetts native burst off the line, and as he crossed the halfway point of the race, meter after meter drew him closer to the final bell. When he turned the corner of his final lap, he caught wind of his teammates, and the sight of a clock showed how possibility was becoming fact.

The explosion as he crossed the finish line told him everything he needed to know without looking.

Steven Jackson, the local kid who ran at St. John's Prep prior to joining Boston College, was the first Boston College Eagle to break the four-minute mile in an indoor race. His time was 3:57.70, and he was the sixth place finisher in the mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic.

"Before that race, I knew I was ready," Jackson said. "I had been working hard all through [semester] break, and when it came down to how I was feeling after 800 meters. When I got to 1,200 meters at 3:01, I really began thinking I could do it, and when the crowd roared, it really just brought me home. I knew it right when I saw that 3:01, but there was this huge burst of energy that brought it home with everything I had."

College track and field is one of the rare sports encompassing the entire year. Distance runners move indoors during the winter before returning to the more traditional outdoor track in the spring, but the majority race cross-country in the fall as part of a grueling schedule. Like many others, Jackson spent the fall racing outdoors, a feat that earned him a seat at the NCAA Division I Northeast Region Cross Country Championships in 2021 as the fourth-best finisher among BC runners while additionally running at the NEICAAA 2021 Cross Country Championships one month earlier.

He ran a 4:15 mile that year in a dual meet against Army, and he slashed five seconds off the time during the ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships, an impressive feat considering the season had been greatly impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. One year later, he built on the time by running a 4:03.18 at the battle of Beantown before finishing fourth at the IC4A/ECAC Indoor Track & Field Championship with a preliminary heat run of 4:01.98 and a final heat fourth place finish at 4:04.44.

The times simply kept dropping, and when BC hosted its first meet at the TRACK at New Balance this year, Jackson broke his own record while setting a facility record at the new building in Brighton by running a 4:01.79. One week later, he joined the starting group at Boston University with the four-minute mile in his sights as a believable goal despite knowing how difficult cutting those final two seconds would prove.

"I was just sort of sitting in the back [of the field] while hitting my splits," he said, "but then on the back straightaway on the last lap, I realized I was passing the whole field. Then came the final part of the race where I thought I could win the whole race, and I saw the clock. It was right on top of the straightaway and was at 3:52 or something [near that]. I realized it was going to be a huge race, and I just needed to get to the line.

"I heard the crowd go crazy," he said, "and I just ran right over to the boys [from the team]. There were huge celebrations. It was an awesome moment."

The four-minute mile is a sacred number for any runner who understands the grinding nature of training, but qualifying for the club was part of why Jackson relished running in the first place. His high school career saw him compete as a champion for St. John's Prep in Danvers, but the Boston Globe All-Scholastic failed to receive due from the larger track factories that eschewed their attention from the Northeast and New England.

He remained steadfast in his approach and belief that he could compete at the highest levels, and because of that, Boston College became the right option. As a local school, he could remain close to home while building a competitive culture in his backyard, but the ACC affiliation offered him the opportunity to take on the programs who didn't pay enough attention to the running talent plying its trade in the backdrop of the Boston Marathon route.

"I sort of knew that I was always at the top of the state," Jackson said, "but there would always be one or two guys better than me, even during my senior year. I think what was key was that I improved every season, and my times [got better]. Just seeing that constant improvement across the seasons made me think that it could keep happening if I kept training consistent.

"Being from the area, I followed BC for my entire life," he remarked. "I knew it was a great school, and it was a better academic opportunity than I would have gotten elsewhere. But just the ACC, I really wanted to run in the conference, and BC was my ticket into the ACC. The other ACC schools wouldn't have recruited me, so both the [conference] and the academic opportunity became a big thing for me."

Joining the Eagles now has him poised to rewrite pieces of the record book for a program that's continuing its rocket trajectory growth. BC will host the NCAA Championships next year at the TRACK at New Balance, its new, world class facility located across the street from the New Balance world headquarters in Brighton. That the runners have access to train and use the facility is a huge lift for a team that once didn't have a home track, and the process and production is now reaching all-time highs behind runners who are committed to the program's growth.

"The team keeps me coming to practice every day," Jackson said. "If I had to train alone every day, it would be brutal, but I have really great people to train with, in a great community. We have all these people to talk to, and in workouts, we push each other."

The indoor season continued last week with the BU Scarlet and White meet, and it rolls back into Boston University this weekend with the David Hemery Valentine Invitational. The weekly competitions head to Winston-Salem for the JDL DMR Invitational on February 18 before the ACC Championships kick off at Louisville on February 23.

Players Mentioned

Steven Jackson

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