BOZEMAN — Think about how long your favorite song is. Let’s say it’s roughly around 4 minutes. Montana State sophomore runner Duncan Hamilton ran a mile faster than that.
“As soon as I came around for the last lap, I saw (MSU head coach Lyle Weese) like kind of wave his arm and say, ‘Go!' That really stuck with me," said Hamilton. "I just saw him waving me on, that gave me a bunch of motivation as well.”
On Feb. 19, Hamilton became the fourth runner in Montana State history to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. He ran it in 3 minutes, 57.3 seconds.
“I couldn’t really hear any of the times that I was coming through anymore and I could really just hear everybody screaming, so I kind of figured I got a chance, this is the time to do it," Hamilton said. "I feel like the fact that people weren’t really yelling out the splits anymore, they were just kind of screaming at me, it kind of gave me motivation. Those last two laps I feel like I gave it everything I had and I was just kind of cruising.”
The sub-4-minute mile is something that Hamilton has dreamed of since he was a kid and heard former MSU runner Pat Casey had accomplished the feat.
“I feel like that’s kind of like a pretty big hyped-up barrier in distance running and so I’ve definitely thought about that for a lot of my life," said the MSU sophomore. "I remember hearing about Pat Casey run sub-4 in the fieldhouse and actually came here to try and watch him and I think I got his autograph here. It’s definitely been in my mind for a long time.”
Hamilton didn’t just etch himself in the Montana State history books, he qualified for the NCAA national indoor track and field championships in Arkansas, March 11-13.
“To finally make a national meet is just super exciting," Hamilton said. "It still feels weird to see my name up with a lot of the top milers in the country. I’m just super excited to see what happens and mix it up at the national meet. I was just so happy that I likely made it to nationals and it will be my first time at the national stage," Hamilton said. "I was just super excited to get on that national stage.”
For the Bozeman native, he’s proud to represent his hometown.
“It’s super special, especially the amount of support I get from everybody around Bozeman, I appreciate it a lot and it’s really amazing,” said Hamilton.
