BU Last Chance: Yared Nuguse’s Mile World Record Attempt Comes Up Short (3:47.22), Heather MacLean Breaks American 1500 Record (3:59.60), Nico Young (12:51.56) Runs Super Fast

BOSTON — Americans Heather MacLean (4:17.01 mile) and Nico Young (12:51.56 for 5,000m) both moved into the world all-time top five list at the 2025 Last Chance Indoor Qualifier at Boston University on Sunday. Update: After the meet it was revealed MacLean split 3:59.60 at 1500m to break convicted doper Regina Jacobs’ long-standing American record of 3:59.98 mark from 2003. The main event fizzled as Yared Nuguse could not reclaim his world indoor mile record from Jakob Ingebrigtsen, running 3:47.22. Just one month ago, Nuguse’s time would have broken the American record and come just .21 shy of the world record. Today, it was met with a “Yared Nuguse goes home DEVASTATED” thread on the LetsRun.com messageboard — a testament to the insanity of the 2025 indoor season (and the high expectations of LetsRun.com readers). Nuguse fell more than two seconds short of Ingebrigtsen’s 3:45.14 world record from February 13.

In other action, Harvard student and New Balance pro Graham Blanks took a break from finishing up his thesis and became the fifth American to break 7:30 in the 3000 as he won by 4+ seconds in 7:29.72. The OAC’s Josette Andrews just missed our her outdoor 5000 pb of 14:43.36 as she ran 14:44.80 to win the women’s 5000 where 1500 Olympian Emily Mackay ran a huge pb of 14:45.81 (previous pb of 15:14.31).

The men’s mile also featured US Indoor 2nd and 3rd placers Sam Prakel and Luke Houser chasing the World Indoor auto standard of 3:50.50. Neither hit it — Houser ran 3:51.14, Prakel 3:52.77 — but there was a clock taking 1500m splits en route. Those splits, which were not immediately available (they are expected to be published Monday), should help move Houser and Prakel up on the Road to Nanjing list and into position for an invite to Worlds from World Athletics.

As the track world shifts firmly into championship mode — the next three weekends will bring Euro Indoors, NCAA Indoors, and World Indoors, respectively — here are seven takeaways from the last great time trial meet of the 2025 indoor season. *Full Results

Yared Nuguse comes up short, but that’s nothing to be ashamed about

Nuguse’s mile WR attempt may have come up short, but after an indoor season in which world records were being handed out like candy – five in the men’s distance events in the month of February alone – tonight was a reminder that, yes, it is actually quite difficult to break a world record.

Back on February 14, one day after Ingebrigtsen ran 3:45.14 to break Nuguse’s five-day-old WR of 3:46.63, Nuguse said on the LetsRun.com Track Talk Podcast he did not think he would run another mile this season to try to take the record back.

“Feels a little petty,” Nuguse said.

But here Nuguse was just over two weeks later, taking his shot.

“Looks like I am that petty after all,” he posted on Instagram on Saturday.

In reality, Nuguse said his coach Dathan Ritzenhein wanted Nuguse to run another indoor race this season after Millrose and offered him the chance of the mile or 3k in Boston. Nuguse opted for the mile and was in good spirits, despite coming well short of Ingebrigtsen’s record.

“I really just wanted to come out here, give it my best shot, and see what happens,” Nuguse said. “I did that. I came short, but still a good day overall.”

Nuguse can hang his head high. He went to the well in this one (Nuguse spent a few minutes vomiting into a trashcan before speaking with the media), and there is nothing to be ashamed of taking aim at a high target and coming up short. His time of 3:47.22 today was faster than any American — including himself — had ever run indoors prior to February 2025. He’s still in great shape, but the mile WR is significantly tougher to break now than it was when it stood at 3:47.01 a month ago.

Full mile video:

Nuguse Post-Race Interview

Heather MacLean gives the American record a scare and is thinking of a medal in Nanjing breaks Regina Jacobs American record at 1500m and is thinking of a medal in Nanjing

MacLean was 3rd at USAs in the 1500 last weekend and had a good chance of making it to World Indoors based on her season’s best (US champ Nikki Hiltz isn’t going, which freed a spot for MacLean). But MacLean wanted to guarantee her spot by hitting the standard of 4:22.50. She did that easily, running 4:17.01 to move to #4 on the world all-time indoor list and #2 among Americans, behind only her New Balance Boston teammate Elle St. Pierre, who is currently expecting her second child.

Update: And it was discovered after the conclusion of the meet that MacLean split 3:59.60 at 1500m to break convicted doper Regina Jacob’s longstanding 1500m American record of 3:59.98 from 2003.

“I look up to Elle, Elle is one of my best friends, so [it is] super cool to be in that conversation,” MacLean said.

In 2025, MacLean has run well in slower races (1st at NBIGP, 2nd Millrose) as well as tonight’s time trial, so she should be ready for anything in Nanjing. Her training group has experienced success at the meet in recent years, with St. Pierre earning 3k silver and gold in 2022 and 2024 and Emily Mackay earning 1500 bronze in 2024. MacLean wants to add to the medal pile in China.

“I feel like when you’re a US athlete going to a championship like that, it’s always in your head,” MacLean said. “We’re the best country in the world when it comes to track & field, so it’s definitely a goal of mine.”

Update: MacLean’s agent Paul Doyle told LetsRun.com that MacLean’s 1500m split was 3:59.60, which breaks Regina Jacobs’ record of 3:59.98 from 2003 and Mark Coogan has confirmed it on Instagram.

 

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The pacing lights were not up to the task in the men’s mile

This take was written by LetsRun.com’s Robert Johnson, with reporting from Jonathan Gault

This was the first meet at Boston University’s famously fast track to include pacing lights, which were installed yesterday (the lights are temporary). You would think since the whole point of having pacing lights is to break records and run fast, that they’d be accurate. You’d be wrong.

OAC coach Dathan Ritzenhein told us the pacing lights were supposed to be set at 27.95 per 200m for the men’s mile. They appeared to move at roughly that pace but, unlike the Wavelight system used on the Diamond League circuit, tonight’s pacing lights (made by a different company) were not tied to the starter’s gun. In the men’s mile, the lights were started late and were more than a second behind where they should have been.

Even pace for 400m and 800m at 27.95 per 200 would put that pacing lights at 55.9 for 400 and 1:51.8 at 800. The photos below show the lights (first green light) were roughly at 57.2 and 1:53.0 at 400 and 800 (the 400m mark is the white line nine meters before the finish line).

For the first 800, Nuguse was ahead of the green lights. He was basically dead even with them at 809 meters and that would lead one to believe he was right on WR pace. But that was not the case. Jakob’s WR pace at that point comes out to 1:53.20 for 809 meters and Nuguse’s split was 1:54.47.

After the race, Nuguse said he could tell something was amiss.

“I kind of thought the lights were broken for a while,” Nuguse said. “I was like, where are they? I was so confused. They come up halfway through the race and I’m like, oh, we’ve just been pounding it, I guess.”

The lights weren’t broken, but they did not start on time. Nuguse’s confusion was merited.

In the women’s race, the pacing lights were started on time but a different type of error may have resulted in Heather MacLean just missing the 4:16.41 American record. New Balance Boston coach Mark Coogan had them set at 32 seconds per 400, which gets you to 4:16 for 1600, but 4:17.44 for the mile. He told us afterward he meant to tell them to set it for 4:16.00 for 1609 meters, not 1600 — so they really should have been set at 31.82 per 200.

Nico Young looked fantastic in the men’s 5,000 and is now the second-fastest American ever, indoors or out

Young bided his time in the 5,000 behind Ky Robinson and Adriaan Wildschutt before ripping a 2:28.09 last kilometer to run 12:51.56 – a time that would have broken the American indoor record had Grant Fisher not come to Boston two weeks ago and run 12:44.

“I kind of forgot that,” Young said. “That’s crazy. Dang, he had to go and do that. But I’m super happy with this time.”

He should be. Young’s time now ranks him second on the all-time US list, indoors or out, behind only Fisher. And he looked seriously impressive in closing well (57.87 final 400, 28.55 final 200) off a hot pace, knocking out the 2025 Worlds standard of 13:01.00 in the process. Add that to his 3:50.89 mile in Seattle two weeks ago (which came a day after a 7:39 3k) and Young is looking even stronger than this time last year, when he ran 12:57 and won two NCAA titles indoors.

That said, Young said he has dealt with a few hiccups this winter that threw a wrench into his racing schedule, including some minor injuries and illness and a dog attack while on a run in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“A dog came up and ripped up my quad,” Young said. “Wasn’t a huge thing, but it took away a huge week of training and postponed a race.”

The US has a strong crop of distance runners right now, but the effect of super shoes and optimized indoor races is becoming apparent on the all-time US list as the top three performers have all set their pbs within the last three years, and all have come at BU.

All-time US 5,000m list (all-conditions)
1. 12:44.09i Grant Fisher 2/14/25 Boston
2. 12:51.56i Nico Young 3/2/25 Boston
3. 12:51.61i Woody Kincaid 1/27/23 Boston
4. 12:53.60 Bernard Lagat 7/22/11 Monaco
5. 12:54.72 Cooper Teare 5/17/24 Los Angeles

MB: How long until Nico Young wins a medal?

Graham Blanks impresses with 7:29 3k, explains absence from USA Indoors

Blanks, who had not raced since his pro debut a month ago at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, won the 3000m in 7:29.72, becoming just the fifth American to break 7:30, indoors or out. Blanks said it was tough seeing his old Harvard teammates head on a bus for the Heps championships in Ithaca, N.Y., without him this weekend, but he is in a new phase of his career now as a professional athlete with New Balance.

Blanks is clearly in great shape right now, so we asked him why he chose not to run at USA Indoors last weekend. Blanks said he wanted to, but opted against it for two main reasons. The first was that he would not have taken a spot at Worlds if he had made it (The Ten is a week after World Indoors and Blanks is also in the midst of submitting his senior thesis at Harvard). And second, he and coach Alex Gibby felt that a time trial-style race at BU would help prepare him better for another time-trial race at The Ten.

“We made the decision right at the end to keep my eyes on the 10k, stay doing these time-trial environments,” Blanks said.

One other benefit is the travel. Rather than taking a flight/car/train to Staten Island, Blanks was able to bike to the meet today from his Harvard dorm.

MB: Graham Blanks 7:29 at BU

Sam Gilman feeling optimistic about making it to World Indoors

Gilman finished 3rd in the 3000m at USA Indoors last Saturday, and said the ensuing eight days have been very busy as he has tried to figure out whether he will be able to compete at World Indoors in China from March 21-23. And there was good news for Gilman on multiple fronts.

On the track, he ran a pb of 7:34.69 today. Though that was shy of the auto standard of 7:31.00 (a tough standard since Worlds is a straight 15-man final), Gilman’s time bumped him into position for a qualifying spot on the Road to Nanjing list. With some men ahead of him declining their spots and the qualifying window ending next weekend, Gilman is in strong position to earn a bid.

The other issue was getting approval from his superiors to take leave from his job in the Air Force. Until January, Gilman would have required a two-star general to sign off on his trip due to COVID-related US military travel restrictions on China, but those restrictions lifted at the end of January, clearing the path for Gilman to go.

“I’m optimistic that it’s going to happen,” Gilman said of his trip.

But before then, Gilman has to go back to his day job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

“You know what they say about Dayton, it’s the next Flagstaff,” Gilman said with a smile.

Aidan McCarthy rips 1:45.19 to move to #3 on NCAA all-time list

The first fast time of the day came in the early afternoon during the men’s 800 meters, where Cal Poly’s Aidan McCarthy ran 1:45.19 for the win. Though McCarthy began the weekend in position to qualify for NCAAs (he was #14 on the list and the top 16 make it), he felt he was capable of going faster than the 1:46.55 he ran in Seattle a month ago, particularly after he PR’d by more than three seconds in the mile by running 3:52.83 on February 15. And since Cal Poly is in the Big West, which does not have an indoor conference meet, he decided to fly to Boston to take a shot at a pb.

It worked out perfectly. McCarthy had the lights and a teammate, Chase Walter, to pace him through 600, at which point the lights turned off and he focused on coming home strong to hold off Brooks Beasts pro John Rivera (2nd in 1:45.32).

“Pacing was perfect, I had John in the race, who is an old training partner, so that helped a lot,” McCarthy said, whose time also bettered his outdoor pb of 1:46.26. “Felt really good.”

McCarthy, who was 7th at NCAA outdoors in 2023 but redshirted last year, is now the fastest American collegian ever and sits behind only Kenyans Paul Ereng (1:44.84) and Michael Saruni (1:45.15) on the all-time NCAA list. He’s also #8 on the all-time US indoor list. But he will face some strong competition at NCAAs in two weeks as Georgetown’s Tinoda Matsata (1:45.21) is just .02 behind him and Mississippi State’s Abdullahi Hassan (1:45.53) has also broken 1:46 this season. 

Talk about the BU action on the world famous LetsRun.com messageboard / fan forum:

• Yared Nuguse goes home DEVASTATED 3:47.22
• Heather Maclean 4:17.01 Just missed the American record.
• Yared Nuguse chasing mile WR at BU with Wavelights – Official Discussion Thread
• Graham Blanks 7:29 at BU
• Will someone please volunteer to stream Nuguse’s mile WR on their phone? Yared Nuguse mile record attempt streaming?
• Aidan McCarthy with collegiate-leading 800 at BU (1:45.19)
• Tuohy to race 5k
• Hold On! One More BU Meet To Go — Featuring the Highest Quality Men’s 5000 Field this Winter
• How long until Nico Young wins a medal?

More: LRC Post-race interviews from BU