Cole Hocker (12:57.82) Beats Cooper Teare (12:57.97), Owen Powell (3:56.66) HS Mile Record, & HS Teammates Sub-4:00 at BU
By Jonathan GaultBOSTON – Another week, another record at Boston University. This time, it was the high schoolers’ time to shine as not one, but two boys ran under Hobbs Kessler’s 3:57.66 US high school indoor mile record from 2021 at the Terrier DMR Challenge on Friday night. Owen Powell of Mercer Island (Wash.) High School was the man to break it, taking a full second off by running 3:56.66 against a field of professionals and college athletes (New Zealand’s Sam Tanner won the race in 3:51.85). Powell went out aggressively, hitting 809m in 1:58.5 and holding on well with a 1:58.61 second 800.
Powell needed to run fast to get the record, because right behind him in heat 2, Josiah Tostenson of Crater High School (Central Point, Ore.) clocked 3:57.47 to also dip under Kessler’s old record. Tostenson’s teammate Tavyon Kitchen, who last week ran 7:55.48 to break Nico Young’s high school 3,000m record, joined Tostenson in the sub-4:00 club by running 3:59.61.
Tostenson and Kitchen are the first pair of high school teammates to break 4:00, let alone to do so in the same race. Their race was also the first indoor race with multiple high school sub-4:00s (there have been three such races outdoors).
There were several other fast races on Friday, highlighted by Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker defeating training partner Cooper Teare in the 5,000, running a pb of 12:57.82 to Teare’s 12:57.97 as both dipped under the 13:01.00 World Championship standard. Third-placer Jack Rayner (12:59.43) set an Australian indoor record and became just the third Aussie ever under 13:00, indoors or out, after Craig Mottram and Stewart McSweyn. Norway’s 2023 Worlds 1500 medalist Narve Nordas came just short of the standard, though he still ran a pb of 13:04.85 for 5th (previous pb: 13:05.38).
After pacer Mick Stanovsek dropped out at 2600m, Teare led the next 600m before Hocker took over. Teare took the lead again with 500m to go but could not drop Hocker, who closed in 27.26 to Teare’s 27.62 on the last lap, passing him for the win in the home straight.
A BATTLE TO THE LINE 🔥
Teammates Cole Hocker and Cooper Teare sprint to the finish in the men’s 5k at the BU Terrier DMR Challenge, with Hocker narrowly getting the win in 12:57.82.
Teare takes second in 12:57.97 as both he and Hocker, along with Jack Rayner and Gulveer Singh,… pic.twitter.com/pJz9WpOXCp
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 22, 2025
The Oregon women won a very quick distance medley relay in 10:42.05, the fastest time ever by an NCAA women’s team on a 200-meter track (though four teams ran faster at the University of Washington’s 307m track last week). In the men’s DMR, Wake Forest’s Rocky Hansen surprisingly outkicked North Carolina’s double NCAA record holder Ethan Strand to give the Demon Deacons a narrow win, 9:17.17 to 9:17.19, with Princeton close behind in 3rd in 9:17.30. Strand still had the fastest anchor split of the night at 3:49.22 as he received the baton in 5th place. Hansen split exactly a second slower, 3:50.22, for Wake Forest but caught Strand on the outside at the end of the home straight.
WHAT. A. RACE. 😳
A late charge from Rocky Hansen in the closing meters helps @WakeTrack to a men’s DMR win at the BU DMR Challenge in 9:17.17.@UNCTrack_Field finished just .02 seconds behind in second.#BUDMRChallenge pic.twitter.com/bKDdLIeB6f
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) February 22, 2025
Below, a few quick thoughts on Friday night’s action and post-race interviews with Hocker, Teare, Nordas, and the high school stars.
2025’s record madness has come to the high school ranks
Earlier this week, we published an article wondering why college athletes and pros are running so fast in 2025 (LRC Why Is Everyone Running So Fast in 2025? Super Spikes 3.0, A Golden Generation of Americans, and…Bicarb?). We should amend that to include high schoolers, because in the last two weeks, the boys’ indoor 800 (Cooper Lutkenhaus, 1:46.86 at Millrose), mile (Owen Powell, 3:56.66 tonight), and 3000 (Tavyon Kitchen, 7:55.48 in Seattle) national records have all gone down.
Powell, who is the son of University of Washington track coaches Andy and Maurica Powell, almost broke the mile record last week in Seattle, running 3:57.74 in Seattle. Because Washington doesn’t have a state indoor track championships and he is not running any of the indoor national meets, he decided to take one more crack at a fast time tonight.
Left to right: Kitchen, Tostenson, and Powell after their historic night in Boston
“My next real big race is in six weeks so might as well give it one more shot, kind of a last-minute trip,” Powell said. “I was already really happy with what I ran, so this was just one more shot, just didn’t really care how it went. If it went good, great. If it didn’t, I was already happy with how I ran, so it took a lot of pressure off.”
Tostenson, who ran 3:57.47 in the second heat, had already taken three shots at a fast mile this year, running 4:03, 4:03, and 4:02, but was confident he was in shape to run sub-4:00. He said he felt he was capable of 3:56 or 3:57, especially after seeing his friend Powell run 3:56 in the first heat.
“I knew I could go sub-4, knew I had it in me,” Tostenson said. “I knew after indoor it would be a lot of 1500s, maybe no more miles, so I knew I had to get a mile in and I knew at BU I could get sub-4:00…Right after [Owen’s race], I said, I’m going well under sub-4:00.”
Tostenson and Kitchen are high school teammates, and they are both close with Powell, who will be rooming with Tostenson at the University of Washington next year. Powell was already looking forward to the battles to come.
“We’re probably going to race four or five more times in the outdoor season,” Powell said. “I can’t wait. It’s going to be so fun…Every race is going to be a duel to the death knowing I’m going to have to race these guys so often.”
Both Kitchen and Tostenson said that after this accomplishment, they believe they rank at the top of the list as far as all-time high school duos.
“I think we’re the best duo in high school history and we’re just trying to prove that over and over,” Kitchen said.
“Definitely the best duo in high school history, I think, and we’re best friends outside of running, so it couldn’t be any more special,” Tostenson said, on getting the chance to break 4:00 in the same race as his teammate.
Newbury Park (Calif.) might dispute that claim given Nico Young and Colin Sahlman (as well as Lex Young, Leo Young, and Aaron Sahlman) all overlapped in the 2020s, but the Crater duo has a very strong argument given Kitchen’s 7:55 high school 3k record and their status as the first high schoolers ever to break 4:00 together as teammates. Either way, they are a truly remarkable duo.
All-time high school indoor mile list (all-conditions rank in parentheses)
1. 3:56.66 Owen Powell, 2025 (#4 overall)
2. 3:57.47 Josiah Tostenseon, 2025 (#5 overall)
3. 3:57.66 Hobbs Kessler, 2021
4. 3:57.81 Drew Hunter, 2016
5. 3:58.81 Colin Sahlman, 2022
6. 3:59.11 Connor Burns, 2023
7. 3:59.61 Tayvon Kitchen, 2025 (#22 overall)
8. 3:59.86 Alan Webb, 2001
9. 3:59.87 Jojo Jourdon, 2024
10. 4:00.05 Brodey Hasty, 2018
Cole Hocker said it was an “ego check” not to chase Grant Fisher’s 12:44 world record, but said he is the strongest he’s ever been
Hocker is a competitor, and part of him wanted to take a crack at Fisher’s 12:44 world record set on this track a week earlier. But deep down, he knew he wasn’t in 12:44 shape right now and decided just to target the Worlds standard of 13:01. He hit it and got a pb in the process (his previous best was 12:58.82 last year outdoors), so he was happy, even though he said running 12:57 hurt a bit more than he wanted it to.
“I don’t like time trials, and that was about as close to a time trial as you can get,” Hocker said. “…I knew I ran a really good 3k [at Millrose], but I definitely have a few more training blocks before I’m fully there in the 5k.
Hocker showed in 2024 that he can beat the best in the world in the 1500 meters. This year, he wants to do the same in the 5,000. He has some work to do — he was only 7th in the 5,000 at the Olympic Trials last year — but says he is feeling stronger than ever and believes that if he can string together a few strong training blocks ahead of USAs, he can get on the team this summer. He will head to Provo for an altitude stint after this and said he won’t race again until the first Grand Slam Track event in April.
“At this point last year, I was not in sub-13:00 5k shape,” Hocker said. “…Starting off with this block where it is, honestly it’s scary to think of where this season can take me. I’ve just got to stay on top of all the the little things. I think it’s going to be an even better year than last year, which is really saying something.”
MB: Hocker and Teare in 5k at BU
Cooper Teare said he wants to get in some competitive races outdoors, but prioritized the Worlds standard tonight over USA/World Indoors
Teare, 25, said he feels like he is in a great spot right now after running a 7:30 3k pb at Millrose and knocking out the Worlds standard this year. He also said he has been upping the intensity in his cross-training and feels that will pay dividends come outdoors.
“Once we sharpen up a little bit, that end of the race is going to be hopefully 53-54 rather than a 57 as it was today,” Teare said.
Teare, like Hocker, chose to chase the Worlds standard tonight rather than run at USA Indoors. Unlike Hocker, however Teare is not signed up as a Racer for Grand Slam Track (which comes two weeks after World Indoors). Teare said his logic for running at BU was to get the standard out of the way, giving him more flexibility in his outdoor season to hone tactics against good competition. I pointed out that USA Indoors and World Indoors would also offer such an opportunity, but Teare said he had to “pick his battles” and is fully focused on making the Worlds team outdoors.
“We targeted this quite a while ago just to get that [standard] out of the way,” Teare said. “It would be good to race at Worlds [Indoors], but for me, this was the big box to check right now.”
No, Narve Nordas has not joined the Melbourne Track Club
Nordas was racing at BU for the first time and said that while the track can be very fast, racing 5,000 meters is still very hard. Especially when your stride is faltering and you’re hurting at the end of the race.
“A 5k is 5k,” Nordas said. “Even though you race at Boston University, it’s still a 5k. 25 laps — it was really tough mentally…It’s not magic. If you’re on your toes then it’s a good bouncy track, trampoline effect. But once your form falls apart, then it’s just as tough as outdoors.”
Nordas was entered in the meet under Melbourne Track Club, prompting some to wonder if he parted ways with coach Gjert Ingebrigtsen. But Nordas said he was only listed as MTC because his agent is Nic Bideau, who also coaches that team. In reality, Nordas has never been to Australia and is still coached by Ingebrigtsen, who is set to stand trial on charges of physical abuses against his children from March 24 to May 16. Nordas said he is sticking with Ingebrigtsen as coach but the trial will complicate things.
“It’s tough for all parts but just have to see,” Nordas said. “It’s going to be challenging for everybody.”
Talk about tonight’s action on our world-famous fan forum / messageboard:
