By 605 Sports Staff

ST. LOUIS — Simeon Birnbaum got his summer off to a quick start clocking the No. 4 mile-run in U.S. high school track and field history at the HOKA Festival of MILES in Missouri. 

Known for having one of the most potent kicks in the country, Birnbaum reached the finish line in 3:57.53. The Rapid City Stevens graduate clocked a :57.68 seconds for the final 400 meters as he finished in front of Rocky Hanson, of Christ School, North Carolina at 3:58.23.

Birnbaum and Hanson had already run sub 4-minute miles and towed other runners under the hallowed time barrier. The 19th and 20th members of the sub-4 club were Tinoda Matsatsa of St. Andrew’s Episcopal, Maryland, third in 3:58.70, and Jackson Heidesch of Dowling Catholic Iowa, fourth in 3:59.08.

Birnbaum climbed to No. 4 on the all-time high school list behind Alan Webb, 3:53.43 in 2001; Jim Ryun, 3:55.3 in 1965, and Colin Sahlman, 3:56.24 in 2022. 

Birnbaum, unbeaten outdoors in races ranging from 400 meters to two jlkmiles across four states, said he “got shot straight to the back” and didn’t run the mile as designed.