UW's Dempsey track is where sub-four miles are made
Andy Powell's UW distance program set a college record in January 2025 when nine Huskies broke the four-minute mile in one meet at Dempsey Indoor Center.
![<h6>Seattle Fitness Magazine · 25 Oct 2026</h6><ul><li><strong>9</strong>sub-4 milers</li><li><strong>26</strong>sub-4 miles</li></ul><h2>Nine Huskies under four minutes in one heat</h2>
<p><b>UW's distance program set a record no college track program had ever touched: nine men breaking the four-minute mile in a single meet.</b></p><p>On January 18, 2025, at the Dempsey Indoor Center, Nathan Green led the way in 3:50.74, a facility record and the fourth-fastest mile in collegiate history. Eight teammates followed him under the barrier. Two years earlier, at the same January meet, eight Huskies had done it first.</p><p>Andy Powell, UW's head coach, called that second wave historic. "To break our own record and have nine men run under four minutes today is really hard to put into words," he told The Seattle Times. "No one has ever done this before with so many men under the mark in the same meet."</p>
<h2>How Powell built the pipeline</h2>
<p><b>Powell arrived at UW in June 2018 after thirteen years at Oregon, where he coached Edward Cheserek to 17 NCAA titles.</b></p><p>Before Powell's first full season, UW had finished eighth at the Pac-12 Championships. The program climbed to fourth in 2019, third in 2021, second in 2022, then won back-to-back Pac-12 men's championships in 2023 and 2024, snapping Oregon's 15-year title streak.</p><p>The four-minute mile is central to how Powell defines progress. "My favorite thing to do is coach someone to break it for the first time," he told The Seattle Times in February 2020. "It's just a barrier that everyone wants to try and achieve. I think each one is a special, sacred thing." Of the program's 26 sub-four-minute mile performances, 20 had come since Powell took over, according to the Times.</p>
<h2>A team built on trust</h2>
<p>The January 2023 race, when eight Huskies first broke four minutes together, showed how Powell stages the feat: he brought in world-class milers Johnny Gregorek and Sam Prakel to set pace, then told his runners exactly where to line up. Half the eight lived together at the time. When the bell rang, Nathan Green described the shift: "When we heard that bell, I think we all kind of realized, like: 'OK, blood's in the water. It's time to go hunting.'"</p><p>Green, a two-time NCAA outdoor 1500m champion who now trains in Seattle under Powell as a professional, describes the program's culture as a chain of mentorship. "I'm trying to take [the young] guys up the way the older guys took me up," he told Track and Field News in January 2025. "I'm just trying to be what my mentors were to me."</p>
<h2>The roster keeps growing</h2>
<p><b>By January 2025, Powell said he was turning athletes away.</b></p><p>"We're actually at capacity. Our roster is full. So I'm turning away a lot of really good milers. But it's grown now throughout the world, where people in Australia and New Zealand and England and Ireland all want to come," he told the Times. In January 2026, seven UW men broke four minutes in one heat again at Mile City, the community mile event held each winter inside Dempsey.</p><p>A new class of freshmen and transfers joined the program for the 2026-27 season, announced by Maurica and Andy Powell in July 2026. The Dempsey track has hosted sub-four miles, and the UW Preview, held at Dempsey each January, is where to watch the next wave try.</p>](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/626360_d3100fc563bf4d5e9a3e117a2020e825~mv2.jpg)
Seattle Fitness Magazine · 25 Oct 2026
- 9sub-4 milers
- 26sub-4 miles
Nine Huskies under four minutes in one heat
UW's distance program set a record no college track program had ever touched: nine men breaking the four-minute mile in a single meet.
On January 18, 2025, at the Dempsey Indoor Center, Nathan Green led the way in 3:50.74, a facility record and the fourth-fastest mile in collegiate history. Eight teammates followed him under the barrier. Two years earlier, at the same January meet, eight Huskies had done it first.
Andy Powell, UW's head coach, called that second wave historic. "To break our own record and have nine men run under four minutes today is really hard to put into words," he told The Seattle Times. "No one has ever done this before with so many men under the mark in the same meet."
How Powell built the pipeline
Powell arrived at UW in June 2018 after thirteen years at Oregon, where he coached Edward Cheserek to 17 NCAA titles.
Before Powell's first full season, UW had finished eighth at the Pac-12 Championships. The program climbed to fourth in 2019, third in 2021, second in 2022, then won back-to-back Pac-12 men's championships in 2023 and 2024, snapping Oregon's 15-year title streak.
The four-minute mile is central to how Powell defines progress. "My favorite thing to do is coach someone to break it for the first time," he told The Seattle Times in February 2020. "It's just a barrier that everyone wants to try and achieve. I think each one is a special, sacred thing." Of the program's 26 sub-four-minute mile performances, 20 had come since Powell took over, according to the Times.
A team built on trust
The January 2023 race, when eight Huskies first broke four minutes together, showed how Powell stages the feat: he brought in world-class milers Johnny Gregorek and Sam Prakel to set pace, then told his runners exactly where to line up. Half the eight lived together at the time. When the bell rang, Nathan Green described the shift: "When we heard that bell, I think we all kind of realized, like: 'OK, blood's in the water. It's time to go hunting.'"
Green, a two-time NCAA outdoor 1500m champion who now trains in Seattle under Powell as a professional, describes the program's culture as a chain of mentorship. "I'm trying to take [the young] guys up the way the older guys took me up," he told Track and Field News in January 2025. "I'm just trying to be what my mentors were to me."
The roster keeps growing
By January 2025, Powell said he was turning athletes away.
"We're actually at capacity. Our roster is full. So I'm turning away a lot of really good milers. But it's grown now throughout the world, where people in Australia and New Zealand and England and Ireland all want to come," he told the Times. In January 2026, seven UW men broke four minutes in one heat again at Mile City, the community mile event held each winter inside Dempsey.
A new class of freshmen and transfers joined the program for the 2026-27 season, announced by Maurica and Andy Powell in July 2026. The Dempsey track has hosted sub-four miles, and the UW Preview, held at Dempsey each January, is where to watch the next wave try.
