Maryland runner becomes first Black high schooler to run sub-four-minute mile

It was a historic night in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday in the high school boys’ mile at the 2023 HOKA Festival of Miles. Tinoda Matsatsa, a high school senior from Potomac, Md., became the first Black high schooler to break four minutes in the mile, clocking a time of 3:58.70.

Tinoda Matsatsa ’23 has officially established himself as one of the nation’s all-time middle-distance runners, breaking the four-minute mark in the mile by clocking a time of 3:58.70 to finish third in the HOKA Festival of Miles. #TrackStar #GOLions🦁 pic.twitter.com/FyE9U6xEJb

— St. Andrew’s Athletics (@SAES_Sports) June 2, 2023

He was one of four high school runners in the race to dip under the four-minute mark at Saint Louis University High School. Matsatsa finished third in the field behind high-school phenom Simeon Birnbaum, who won the race in 3:57.53. 

Matsatsa, an 18-year-old senior from St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School in Maryland, is the 19th U.S. high school boy to break four minutes for the mile. He smashed his previous one-mile best of 4:05.68, from a month ago, by nearly seven seconds.

“Everything I’ve done to this point has been leading up to today,” Matsatsa told CitiusMag in a post-race interview. Matsatsa only started running track last year after transitioning from soccer. In March, he won a U.S. indoor 800m junior title at New Balance Nationals, where he ran a stunning time of 1:48.27, earning him third all-time on the U.S. boys high school list.

Tinoda Matsatsa and Jackson Heidesch join the club and follow Simeon Birnbaum and Rocky Hansen under 4 minutes in St. Louis!!! Birnbaum with a new high school meet record in 3:57.53 pic.twitter.com/t1J6yS4U3w

— Gary Martin (@gary_martin20) June 2, 2023

Matsatsa has a bright future ahead of him, as he will head to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., on a track scholarship, this fall.