Miracle Mile

Halfway through the race, he knew he was going to do it. “Stay on your feet,” Steven Jackson ’24 told himself. “Get to the line, and you’ll have this.” And minutes later, he did. It was January 27, 2023, and in the second heat of the John Thomas Terrier Classic race, Jackson had just crossed the finish line in 3 minutes 57 seconds, making him the first Eagle in history to record a sub-four-minute mile.

“Right when I crossed the line, I was in shock,” Jackson said. “It was an electric moment. A moment I’ll never forget.” And one that took years of hard work. Jackson credited his grandfather, an all-around athlete named Ralph Dellorfano, with being a major influence. For his part, Dellorfano praised his grandson’s “tremendous” work ethic—even if it wasn’t always clear he was a born athlete. He laughed recalling the time he took a six-year-old Jackson out to the backyard to hit golf balls into a lacrosse net. “After five minutes we came back in, and I said to his mother, ‘I hope this kid is smart, because he has absolutely no athletic ability.’” By the time Jackson reached his junior year of high school, however, he was able to record a 4:20 mile.

Jackson’s barrier-breaking run placed him at the competitive peak of his sport, and it could be a boost for the entire men’s team, which has historically had a difficult time attracting top athletes because, unlike the women’s program, it doesn’t offer athletic scholarships. John Kane, a former longtime BC sports administrator, explained that a sub-four mile “is something that really doesn’t happen in a non-scholarship program. It’s really a big deal.”

And it’s exactly the kind of thing that BC Track & Field Coach Pete Watson has been waiting for. Watson, who came to the Heights last August to oversee both the men’s and women’s programs, has set a goal of attracting top men’s talent that usually gravitates to scholarship programs. Before Jackson’s run, Watson said, it had been a long time since there were “marks on the board” that could make a serious case for men’s athletes to choose BC over other ACC options. But Jackson’s sub-four is just the edge the men’s program needed to recruit more talented athletes to BC. As Kane pointed out, even people who don’t follow the sport know that a four-minute mile is the gold standard. “It’s the best gift I could have gotten this year,” Watson said.

Jackson said his focus right now is on competing for BC next year as a senior, though he did acknowledge his feat has added fuel to his dreams of being a pro runner. “I’ll see where I am at the end of my NCAA career, and how much faster I can go,” Jackson said. “Running is a tough sport, but it’s definitely just a whole part of my identity.”