Stember Chases a Goal and a Legend

The incongruity of racing against a legend, whose name, 31 years later, carries so little meaning to teen-aged athletes, does nothing to stop the comparisons.

Michael Stember of Sacramento Jesuit High School, all arms and bony legs, and Jim Ryun of Witchita East High School, skinny chest thrust out, are the current now-and-then of high school runners.

Of course, each bright young American miler is burdened with Ryun’s legacy, held up as “the next . . . “ for as long as his talent holds up.

Stember is the latest in line. The 18-year-old hears Ryun’s echoes in every footfall. In every interview. Inquisitions, he calls them. Everyone seems to expect that the lanky senior will be the first American high school runner to break the four-minute mile, since Marty Liquori did it in 1967. Ryun was the first.

To do so, a young runner must first test himself many times against his betters. That brought Stember to the L.A. Invitational Saturday night, far from home and in well over his head in the men’s open mile. Stember finished a brave fourth, in a time of 4:07.1. Many strides and years ahead was the winner, Jim Sorenson in 4:04.59.

It was a notable race, in the endearing way of a sport that finds a statistical benchmark in every run, jump or throw. Stember’s time was the third-best mile ever indoors by a high school student. Notable, too, was its comparison to Ryun. The time was one-tenth of a second faster than Ryun was able to run at this age, indoors.

Stember was scarcely seven seconds from he goal others have set for him. But what legitimacy does a four-minute mile have in a metric world, anyway?

“It’s a standard that for 40 years has made a tremendous amount of sense in track and field,” said Doug Speck, meet director of the Arcadia Invitational, an elite high school competition. “People understand that running four, 60-second laps together is an accomplishment. There are just some thresholds in sports, and it’s one.”

Speck, who saw Ryun break four minutes in high school, said Stember is widely thought to be in the same mold.

“It’s a legitimate possibility,” he said. “We’re not just blowing smoke.”

Stember’s coach, Walt Lange, gingerly addressed the issue. “There was a time when it was a taboo subject [with Stember],” Lange said. “Now, we talk about it all the time. It seems to me that the talent is there.”

Stember’s athletic talent has been honed as the youngest of six children raised in a household where sports were each child’s after-school activity. Stember speaks modestly of his ability and steers all conversation back to his admission that much hard works lies ahead if he is to enjoy anything like Ryun’s career.

“People talk about the four-minute thing to me, but that’s just talk,” Stember said, his mop of blond hair matted with sweat after the race. “They say I’m just seconds away, but those are humongous seconds. I have to say it’s a goal of mine, but I’ve got a lot of work to do. A lot.”

Given the modest competition available in high school, Stember would not be expected to run sub-four minutes in a high school meet. He’s more likely to reach that time in open competition, racing against older, faster runners. April, he says, looks like a good month to try.

However, true to his youthful code, Stember refuses to plan for the race.

“It’s going to be a spur of the moment type of thing,” he said. “I’m not a splits type of guy. I like to compete, to do what I have to do to win. The time will come.”