South Lakes senior Alan Webb put an indelible imprint on the high school track and field world this past Saturday at the New Balance Games in New York City as he became the first high school runner to ever break the four-minute mile barrier indoors with his time of 3 minutes, 59.86 seconds.

In so doing, Webb became only the fourth high school runner to ever shatter the four-minute mark and the first in almost 34 years. Marty Liquori, who clocked 3:59.8 in the summer of 1967, was the last to do it.

Running against 13 post collegians in the "open" mile field at New York City's 168th Street Armory, Webb posted consistent quarter-mile splits of 59.9; 59.6 (1:59.5); 60.4 (2:59.9) and 60.0 (3:59.86). He finished third overall behind winner Leonard Mucheru's (Kenya-New Balance) 3:57.90 and fast closing runner-up Matt Holthaus of the NYAC's 3:59.74.

Webb shattered the former indoor mile (1,609.3 meters) record of 4:02.7 set by San Diego native Thom Hunt in 1976. The South Lakes senior also broke Hunt's 1,500 meter indoor record of 3:46.6 (1976) with his time of 3:43.27 enroute.

Webb first burst upon the national scene at the end of his sophomore year when he broke the venerable Jim Ryun's sophomore class record with his time of 4:06.94 at the Foot Locker Outdoor Championships in Raleigh, N.C.

The link to Ryun then put Webb's name to the forefront of sub four-minute possibilities for the future. Webb then put together an outstanding cross country campaign his junior year and showed hints of more to come during the indoor season after posting the nation's leading time of 4:07.87 - the ninth-fastest high school time indoors.

The outdoor season then showed that maybe Webb would not be waiting for his senior season to try and dip under four minutes after he wowed the Franklin Field crowd at the Penn Relays last April with his 3:59.9 anchor 1,600-meter split in the high school distance medley relay championship.

Webb then made a determined showing the following month to get under four minutes at the Herbster Track Classic in Charlotte, N.C. competing against a high school field. After running the first 440 yards in 62 seconds, Webb was finished in 4:03.33 - the fastest outdoor time in the country.

That race was amid quite a bit of fanfare with reporters from Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and CNN among the observers in what South Lakes coach Scott Raczko believed was very hyped up for a race announced as a chance for Webb to run fast.

That was to be Webb's last assault on the mile mark for the season as a leg injury forced him to stop in his quest following the outdoor state championship meet.

Webb then put in the necessary training base mileage this past summer and put forth an outstanding cross country season in which he was undefeated until the Foot Locker National Championships, where he finished second last month. However, this time around Raczko and Webb felt as if a little less pre-meet publicity was in order in the possible quest for a sub four-minute mile. They told New Balance meet coordinator Ian Brooks not to announce in advance that Webb would be competing on January 20. It was also agreed that Webb would have until the last possible moment to run in either the high school invitational race or the open race, depending on how well Webb thought he would run.

With just a few members in the media knowing about the potential history, the race went as well as it could have for Webb.

"It was my first mile of the year, and I wanted to run fast,'' Webb said. "The rest of the (South Lakes) team raced on the track on Dec. 27 in the Ultima Classic and I came up with them to see what the track was like.

"I loved the track - thought it was awesome. Sometimes you can feel uncomfortable on an indoor track if it has a too-small feeling because the turns are too tight, but their track (200-meter banked Mondo surface) seems unique and has a great feel to it."

So Webb and Raczko decided to take aim at the sub four-minute mile.

"I had two really tough but good workouts leading up to it,'' Webb said. "Two weeks ago, I did 6X800 meters in the snow in 2:12 with two or three minutes rest in between. They would have been faster except for the weather, but it was a great rhythm workout. Then two days later, I did 8x400 at race pace (60 seconds) with two to three minutes rest in between each."

Webb then raced the following Saturday at Christopher Newport University and gave a hint of the following weekend's history with a 1:54 split in the 4x800 and a winning time of 9:06 in the 3,200 run.

Then late this past week, Webb decided on the open mile saying, "there was no reason not to run it."

While preparing for the race, Webb "wanted to run fast but told myself it wasn't a big deal if I didn't go under four minutes. If it happens it happens, but when when I got to the starting line I told myself to go with the leaders and give myself a chance."

The race started fairly smooth for Webb with designated rabbit Lorris Adams of Barbados assuming control of the lead. Webb said, "after 100 meters I was in lane two and said, `Don't be there,' and I tried to move inside and got elbowed back out a little bit, but then a spot opened up and I was okay."

Adams took the field out in under 60 seconds for 440 yards with Webb at 59.9. Adams was close to his expected time of 1:58 for 880 yards with Webb in second place (1:59.5). Adams then dropped out at the halfway mark and Mucheru took over the front-running pace and held a slight lead over Webb (2:59.9) with 440 yards to go.

Webb said, "Once I hit 3 minutes, I told myself I was just one 60-second quarter away. I figured coming into the race that I would be a little off the (sub 4:00) pace and have to kick with a quarter to go, but I knew this time that I had enough left."

Mucheru opened up a 15-yard gap between himself and Webb, with the rest of the field another 10 yards behind Webb. Webb then tried to close on Mucheru but "got a little excited and started straining; I tried to relax for the next 100 yards and waited till the last lap to push it."

With the Armory crowd, many of whom had come out of the stands at the start of the race and had encircled the track, started pounding the outside lane with their hands to spur Webb on. The Seahawks star ran 29.4 seconds for his last 220 yards to seal and steal the show.

"We have known since last spring that Alan was in condition to run under four,'' Raczko said. "The workouts showed he was ready. Last year, when he ran 4:03.33, he had four weeks of good training after a two-week rest. This indoor season, he had four weeks of training after taking two weeks off from cross country.

"Alan ran a great race. The strategy was to go out within two seconds of the leaders and not get panicky if someone makes an early move. You could tell after the first lap that he was going to run fast. He did a great job of establishing a good early position and looked comfortable. It's still not like he's at his strongest point of the year, with more conditioning he should run faster."

The next logical goal for Webb would seem to be the seemingly implausible national high school record of 3:55.3 set by Jim Ryun in 1965. Webb said, "3:55.3 is in the back of my mind. I'm going to get back to some really hard training and try to get back to the same base I had for cross country. I set a standard for myself and beat that. Now I want to keep improving and get to the next progression and beat my next standard. One thing that gives me confidence is that I have always improved on my times from indoors to outdoors. [At time of] 3:55.3 would be the next step and is a definite goal. It obviously would be another wow."

The next wow for Webb could be this Saturday at the Kroger Invitational in Blacksburg, where Webb will line up for the 1,000-meter run on the excellent 200-meter banked track facility at Rector Field House. The national high school record for that event is 2:23.85 set by George Kersh of Pearl, Miss. in 1987. Only four runners have ever gone below 2:25.9.

Webb was caught in 2:29 for 1,000 meters during his mile run and may be able to put Kersh's lofty time into the same perspective he did the mile.

"It's not so bad when you put it as the first lap in 29 seconds and the next seven in 30 seconds."