Iona College Gaels Congratulate Father-Son Duo

From the Iona College Gaels: With a mile time of 3:58.19 on Sunday at the Boston University Last Chance Meet, Liam Dee ran the second fastest indoor mile time in Iona College history while also posting the fastest time in the MAAC this season by eight seconds. The run also produced world history, as Liam joined his father, Billy Dee, to become only the ninth father-son combination to both break four-minute miles.

Billy Dee ran his sub-four mile on July 14, 1991 in Croydon England, clocking in at 3:59.87 for the Shaftesbury Barnet Club. The Dee duo now holds the eighth fastest average of the nine accomplished pairings, averaging their two times to 3:58.68. With Billy’s run on Sunday, the Dees are the lone English natives on the father-son list.

The fastest average time belongs to the most recent combination before the Dees to accomplish the feat, John and Johnny Gregorek. The Gregorek pairing averaged a time of 3:52.25 to own the fastest father-son sub-four mile times as John first accomplished a 3:57.10 time in 1981 before Johnny recorded a 3:57.47 in 2015.

Legends Kip and Martin Keino of Kenya were the first combo to break four minutes for the mile with respective times of 3:54.2 (1965) and 3:58.73 (1994). Barry & Darren Brown were the first U.S. pair to go to sub-4 minutes for the mile as Barry ran a 3:58.8 in 1973 and Darren broke 3:59.99 in 2008.

Liam’s time on Sunday trails only Richard Kiplagat, a 10-time All-American, for the fastest time in program history. The 3:58.19 time is also 12th best in the country this season ahead of the NCAA Championships scheduled for March 10-11at Texas A&M.

The NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships field will be revealed on NCAA.com.

Historical information provided by BringBackTheMile.com.

Image courtesy of Iona College Gaels