More than 550 athletes ran a personal best at the 2025 RunningLane Track Championships and the 2026 entry list suggests that number is going to climb. The Mile is the marquee distance event at RTC, and the 2026 field is heating up. The boys' race has not one, not two, but three athletes seeded at 4:00 flat - and every one of them has already taken a swing at sub-4 in the last few months. The girls' race is anchored by Ventura, California's Aelo Curtis, who spent the last couple of months testing herself against collegians and pros and now returns to a high school field where she's the prohibitive favorite.
Boys' Mile
Field Snapshot
- Total entries: 298 and counting
- Average entry time: 4:29
- Sub-4:10: 31
- Sub-4:20: 90
- Sub-4:30: 161
- Sub-4:40: 218
The Top Five
1. Jameson Pifer (Collins Hill, GA, Sr.) - 4:00
Pifer holds the Georgia indoor mile state record at 4:00.61, set in February at the Camel City Distance Open in Winston-Salem, where he passed the 4:02 pace lights at 800m and ran the rest alone. He's the defending GHSA 1600m state champion and a multi-generation distance product (both parents ran at Colorado, his father Stephen was an eight-time All-American. If anyone in this field has the tactical experience to drag the rest of the front pack through sub 4:00, it's Pifer.
2. Andrew Beroset (Tennessee, Jr.) - 4:00
The most accomplished 2026 distance athlete in the field. Beroset ran a US #1 8:46.85 two-mile at CIRCUIT Chicago in February with a sub-60 closing 400m and won the 2025 NXR Southeast cross country title in 14:45. He's also the top seed in the RTC 3200 at 8:42. Beroset plans to double, but we've seen numerous athletes perform well doubling at both RTC and other meets.
3. Brian Burns (Bentonville, AR, Sr.) - 4:00
UNC signee, 2025 Gatorade Arkansas Player of the Year, and the 2025 Arkansas state cross country champion. Burns has been knocking on the sub-4 door all winter - he ran 4:02.12 at the ASICS Sound Running Invite (Arkansas indoor record), then 4:01.44 at the Arkansas Qualifier and 4:00.38 at the Saucony Battle for Boston, both on the same weekend. Just last week, he posted what the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette called the fastest 1,600 ever run inside Arkansas's borders at the 6A-West Conference Championships. He also ran 8:41 for 3200m at Arcadia in April, which would have been the No. 1 RTC seed - but he's only entered in the Mile and 800 here. His older brother Connor broke Galen Rupp's 19-year-old national high school 5K record; Brian is chasing his own piece of family history.
4. Michael Ferguson (North Buncombe, NC, Sr.) - 4:04
The NCHSAA 5A indoor mile state record holder at 4:10.35. Ferguson's 4:04 outdoor seed comes from the ASICS Carolina Distance Carnival 1600m in April, where he won in 4:03.35 over a stacked NC/SC field that included six other RTC top-15 entries (Kiziah, Barbee, Tuck, Cooke, Dobur, Anderson).
5. Malachi Burnett (Creekview, GA, Sr.) - 4:05
Two-time defending GHSA 5A cross country state champion. Burnett's running origin story is the kind track coaches love to tell: he started running track to get in shape for football and ended up giving up football. His 4:05.93 at Carolina Distance Carnival places him as the second Georgia athlete in the top five.
Top 15 Entries
| Rank | Athlete | School / State | Grade | Seed |
|---|
| 1 | Jameson Pifer | Collins Hill, GA | 12 | 4:00 |
| 2 | Andrew Beroset | McCallie School, TN | 11 | 4:00 |
| 3 | Brian Burns | Bentonville, AR | 12 | 4:00 |
| 4 | Michael Ferguson | North Buncombe, NC | 12 | 4:04 |
| 5 | Malachi Burnett | Creekview, GA | 12 | 4:05 |
| 6 | Owen Clemons
| Cleveland, TN | 12 | 4:06 |
| 7 | Antheney Herre * | Thompson Valley, CO | 11 | 4:06 |
| 8 | Isaac Vasquez* | Loveland, CO | 12 | 4:06 |
| 9 | Riley Kiziah
| Hoggard, NC | 11 | 4:06 |
| 10 | Brooks Barbee
| Christ School, NC | 11 | 4:06 |
| 11 | Jackson Tuck
| Greer Middle College, SC | 12 | 4:07 |
| 12 | Jon Nathan Lawrence
| Charlottesville, VA | 12 | 4:07 |
| 13 | Benjamin Olds* | Monument, CO | 10 | 4:07 |
| 14 | Grady Anderson
| Hickory Ridge, NC | 11 | 4:07 |
| 15 | Carson Dobur
| Northgate, GA | 11 | 4:07 |
Altitude-adjusted seed time.
Girls' Mile
Field Snapshot
- Total entries: 148 and counting
- Average entry time: 5:11
- Sub-5:00: 47
- Sub-5:10: 73
- Sub-5:20: 103
The Top Five
1. Aelo Curtis (Ventura, CA, Sr.) - 4:39
The class of the field, and the only girl entered under 4:40. Curtis was the 2025 Clovis Invitational XC champion (16:44.5, a 77-second course PR), ran a 9:38 3000m and 10:18 two-mile at CIRCUIT Chicago in February, and dropped a 4:19 1500m at the Bob Larsen Distance Carnival at UCLA in April racing against collegians. Her 4:39 RTC seed is, conservatively, slower than what she's capable of right now. If she pushes the pace, this could be one of the fastest high school miles run in the country this spring.
2. Gabbie Bishop (Providence Academy, AR, Sr.) - 4:42
Bishop holds the Arkansas state record in the 1600m at 4:44.87, set at the Texas Distance Festival in 2025 (US #3 at the time). She also won Texas Relays 3200m (10:10.61) and the Arkansas indoor 800m state record at 2:11.44 (US #22). The 2025 NWA Democrat-Gazette Girls Runner of the Year signed with the University of Arkansas in November. If anyone is positioned to pressure Curtis from the gun, it's Bishop.
3. Rowan Saacke (Bridgeland, TX, Sr.) - 4:44
Defending UIL 6A Texas state champion in the 3200m (10:05.90 - won with a perfectly-timed 200m kick over two-time XC state champ Macy Wingard). The Colorado commit, Saacke is also the No. 2 seed in the RTC 3200; the Mile is her secondary event, but her 4:44 seed is right at the edge of the front group.
4. Cali Townsend (Watauga, NC, So.) - 4:44
Tied with Saacke at 4:44. Townsend was 8th at the NCHSAA 4A cross country state meet as a freshman and has emerged as one of the top sophomores in the country. She's also the No. 3 seed in the RTC 3200, signaling she's ready to run with the front pack regardless of distance.
5. Colby McCollum (Cuthbertson, NC, So.) - 4:45
The second North Carolina sophomore in the top five. McCollum was 5th at NCHSAA 4A XC State as a freshman and is part of an underclass NC trio (with Townsend and Dawson) that's reshaping the state's distance landscape. She's tied with Helmers and Dawson at 4:45.
Top 15 Entries
| Rank | Athlete | School / State | Grade | Seed |
|---|
| 1 | Aelo Curtis | Ventura, CA | 12 | 4:39 |
| 2 | Gabbie Bishop | Providence Academy, AR | 12 | 4:42 |
| 3 | Rowan Saacke | Bridgeland, TX | 12 | 4:44 |
| 4 | Cali Townsend | Watauga, NC | 10 | 4:44 |
| 5 | Colby McCollum | Cuthbertson, NC | 10 | 4:45 |
| 6 | Georgy Helmers
| Fayetteville, NC | 12 | 4:45 |
| 7 | Elle Dawson
| Ragsdale, NC | 10 | 4:45 |
| 8 | Remy Latta
| San Antonio, TX | 10 | 4:48 |
| 9 | Alessia Potts
| Pinecrest, NC | 11 | 4:48 |
| 10 | Iris Latta
| San Antonio, TX | 10 | 4:48 |
| 11 | Rachel Riley
| Mount Tabor, NC | 11 | 4:49 |
| 12 | Larkin Johnson
| Franklin, TN | 12 | 4:49 |
| 13 | Ruah Franzmann-Simmert
| Platteville, WI | 11 | 4:50 |
| 14 | Ava Lindsey
| Greer, SC | 11 | 4:50 |
| 15 | Elise Hagen
| Niwott, CO | 11 | 4:50 |
What to Watch
The boys' race has the headline number - three seeded at 4:00, with each athlete having flirted with sub-4 already this season - but the depth tells the bigger story. Twenty-four boys are seeded under 4:10 and 145 under 4:30. That's championship-final density spread across the heat sheet. The girls' race lacks the same surface-level density (Curtis is alone under 4:40), but the chase pack from 4:42 through 4:50 is fifteen deep, and a fast early pace from Bishop or Saacke would put a lot of those athletes in PR territory. Three of the top seven are sophomores; if the underclassman return this race is going to look very different by 2027.
Field stats reflect entries as of the most recent performance list update; altitude-adjusted seeds noted with an asterisk.
