Oklahoma Christian's Silas Kisorio Runs Sub Four Mile Against World Class Field
Feb. 15, 2010
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Oklahoma Christian junior, Silas Kisorio, came away with a blazing 3:57.34 mile time at the Tyson Invitational on Friday night placing third.
Kisorio bettered his time from three weeks ago when he ran a 4:01.75 and shattered his own school record in the process.
Competing against NCAA division I, professional, and world championship athletes, Kisorio placed third, just .02 seconds behind second, in an ultra competitive field. The men's invitational mile had eight sub four-minute milers entered in the race and five runners completed that task on Friday night.
Kisorio's time of 3:57.34 not only meets the national automatic qualification standard for NCAA division I but also places him as the fastest collegiate miler in the country ranking ahead of all NCAA division I performances in the event this year.
"I was a little scared going into the race knowing there were eight sub four minute milers," said Kisorio. "I was among the slowest on the entry list, but I held with them during the race. With 400 meters left, I was in 6th or 7th and knew I needed to kick."
The field was also paced by assistant track coach, Mark Thompson, through 900 meters of the race. Thompson's pacing effort assisted the milers in breaking the four minute mark and allowed the winner of the race, Russell Brown of Nike, to run a 3:55.79.
"Going into this season, we talked about the Tyson Invitational Mile as the big [race] to shoot for," said Thompson. "It has been rough training over the last few weeks due to the Oklahoma winter weather, but all the cards fell into place this week with a very fast field and Silas came through with a huge performance."
"A 3:57 really elevates him to an elite class of middle-distance runners," said Thompson.
In addition to Kisorio's performance, Brayden Barrientez and Frezer Legesse met NAIA provisional marks in the mile and 800-meter run, respectively. Barrientez placed 19th in the men's mile run with a 4:20.93 while Legesse ran a time of 1:56.10 for the 800-meter run.
Assistant track and field coach, Sam Dech, won the men's mile run in a time of 4:10.14.
The track and field team will compete in day two of the Tyson Invitational on Saturday with the majority of the team competing in Norman, Okla. at the OC Indoor #3 meet.
