It was a historic night in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday in the high school boys’ mile at the 2023 HOKA Festival of Miles. Tinoda Matsatsaa high school senior from Potomac, Md., became the first black high schooler to break four minutes in the mile, clocking a time of 3:58.70.
Tinoda Matsatsa ’23 has officially established himself as one of the nation’s all-time middle-distance runners, breaking the four-minute mark in the mile by clocking a time of 3:58.70 to finish third in the HOKA Festival of Miles. #TrackStar #GOLions🦁 pic.twitter.com/FyE9U6xEJb
—St. Andrew’s Athletics (@SAES_Sports) June 2, 2023
He was one of four high school runners in the race to dip under the four-minute mark at Saint Louis University High School. Matsatsa finished third in the field behind high-school phenom Simeon Birnbaumwho won the race in 3:57.53.
Matsatsa, an 18-year-old senior from St. Andrew’s Episcopal High School in Maryland, is the 19th US high school boy to break four minutes for the mile. He smashed his previous one-mile best of 4:05.68, from a month ago, by nearly seven seconds.
“Everything I’ve done to this point has been leading up to today,” Matsatsa told CitiusMag in a post-race interview. Matsatsa just started running track last year after transitioning from soccer. In March, he won a US indoor 800m junior title at New Balance Nationals, where he ran a stunning time of 1:48.27, earning him third all-time on the US boys high school list.
Tinoda Matsatsa and Jackson Heidesch join the club and follow Simeon Birnbaum and Rocky Hansen under 4 minutes in St. Louis!!! Birnbaum with a new high school meet record in 3:57.53 pic.twitter.com/t1J6yS4U3w
—Gary Martin (@gary_martin20) June 2, 2023
Matsatsa has a bright future ahead of him, as he will head to Georgetown University in Washington, DC, on a scholarship track this fall.
