Elliott McArthur will run sub-4:05 in the 1600m
It feels like a long time ago that Elliott McArthur first started making waves as a member of Mounds View's NXN-qualifying cross country team in 2018. Just an 8th grader at the time, he became one of the youngest boys' athletes ever to compete in the event's history, and he hasn't stopped making waves since. The following spring, ran the middle school races at New Balance Outdoor Nationals, qualified for State in the 1600m, ran a 600m race against Joseph Fhanbulleh, and then ran at NXN again the next fall.
Once the pandemic hit, he continued training and was eventually able to run a time trial of 4:18 for a full mile, and followed that up with a 9th-place finish at the TCRC Showcase. But nothing has been as eye-opening for the sophomore as his two indoor mile races in Virginia in 2021. First, in January, he ran to a strategically impressive heat victory in 4:15.34. A month later at the adidas Indoor Nationals, he dropped his time to 4:11.88 (which converts to a 1600m time of 4:10.42).
In short, without his MSHSL junior track and field season having even started yet, McArthur has already run some of the fastest 1600m time ever by a Minnesota boy. Chances are McArthur hasn't even come close to his ceiling yet too, so as long as he remains healthy, much faster times are easily on the table for him. Perhaps even joining the rarified air of Rob Finnerty, Joe Klecker, Gary Bjorklund, and Jaret Carpenter as the only Minnesota high school athletes with a 1600m mark of 4:05 or better, and maybe, just maybe, he can do it at a younger age than any of them.
McArthur still seems to be trending upwards with his last two races being a 14:56 5K at the Garmin RunningLane Cross Country Championships, and a personal best 3200m time of 9:18.86 indoors at the SPIRE Scholastic Showcase.