The Jeffersons: Movin' on up in the record books

Ahh, junior high track. Those were the days. \nNothing like practicing on an asphalt track at the county rec center with the faded lines ... in jeans and a T-shirt. Yep, that was me one day in eighth grade when I showed up for team photo day in that attire. Thankfully I've moved on since that embarrassing day in northwest Ohio and somehow managed to continue my running career. In high school, I ran a 5-minute-9-second mile. Nine seconds away from breaking a five-minute mile. But breaking that mark is not as elusive for those in the running world as running a sub four-minute mile.\nOn May 6, 1954 (May 6 is also my birthday, mark that on your calendars), a young man from across the Atlantic became the first to break the four-minute mile barrier when Roger Bannister became the first ever to accomplish the feat. The 25-year-old from England completed four laps on the oval track in Oxford, finishing with a time of 3:59.4\nAlmost 55 years later, IU's own twin punch of John and Sean Jefferson broke through the four-minute mile wall -- in the same race.\nSean finished with a time of 3:56.44, with brother John finishing a step behind at 3:57.85 in last weekend's Meyo Classic in South Bend. This is the first time in the United States that a set of twins broke the four-minute mile in the SAME race. Let's flash back to that race in South Bend last weekend.\n"I was in third coming around that final lap," John said in Monday's Indiana Daily Student. "I saw my brother ahead and that just gave me that extra energy to finish behind him in second."\nPretend you are the guy that John passed on the last lap. You've got Sean in your sights in front of you, and you think you've got the situation under control. Then, that guy in your sights, passes by right next to you. No, you weren't just lapped, but Sean's mirror image (John) just blew by you en route to a sub four-minute mile.\nWhen you get as good as these twins are, shaving seconds, much less hundredths of a second, off your times becomes harder and harder as you strive for that personal record. Sean, IU's Male Athlete of the Year last school year, was last season's NCAA Indoor Mile Champion with a time of 4:00.16 and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Outdoor Track and Field Trials. Had John not sustained an injury last year during the indoor season he would have been right there with his brother as John finished as the runner-up in the same NCAA indoor race in 2003.\nThe Jefferson twins now join former IU athletes and Olympians Jim Spivey and Bob Kennedy as IU's fastest indoor milers. Sean and John now rank one and three respectively all-time, with Spivey and Kennedy cemented at second and fourth.\nThe Jeffersons sit in the company of a three-time Olympian in Spivey, and a man argued to be America's greatest distance runner ever in Kennedy. Hell, Kennedy even has a shoe named after him. \nAfter this weekend, my 5:09 mile doesn't seem as impressive as it did Friday.