Edward Cheserek closed a workout with a 4:02 mile just weeks before winning his third-straight NCAA cross country title. What makes the 4:02 impressive (after already four miles of workload) is that Coach Andy Powell says the 9x NCAA individual champion was on pace to break 4:00.

“He rounded 200m to go, he was on pace to run 3:58 and I kinda had to tell him to coast in there at the end,” Powell said.

Cheserek and distance coach Powell joined the folks at TrackTown USA for TrackTown Tuesday on February 2, where the duo talked all things Cheserek and the Men of Oregon.

Cheserek, who is fresh off anchoring the Oregon distance medley relay to a No. 5 NCAA mark and winning the mile at the Razorback Invite in 3:57.38, revealed one of his final workouts prior to winning his cross country title last November. The Ducks were tasked with one mile hard, 5x1000m easier, followed by another hard mile. Cheserek said he remembers Powell running toward him during the last mile to instruct the junior to slow down.

While the Ducks’ DMR ran a solid 9:30.95 in Fayetteville, Powell said the team could have broken the collegiate record (9:25.97 by Texas in 2008), had their 400m runner not taken a nasty fall.

“Ben Thiel went down, fell down, somehow hung onto the baton but went off the track, dropped about three feet below the track, faced the wrong direction, and somehow had enough composure to get up and finish the race,” Powell said.

Powell said he ran over to Cheserek to make sure he was prepared to receive the baton in an unfavorable position, to which Powell told the crowd in Eugene, “It’s always nice when the athlete says, ‘Coach, relax I got this.’”

Cheserek split a 3:55 on the anchor to beat Oklahoma State by 5 seconds..

Listen to Cheserek reflect on his historic 2015 year before the Bowerman Awards



Also hearing about a 4:02 last mile in a workout reminded us when Galen Rupp did his legendary 5xMile workout LIVE on FloTrack closing in 4:01!