Dowling's Jackson Heidesch becomes first Iowa high schooler to run a mile in under four minutes

Less than a week after Dowling Catholic’s graduation ceremony — and a few days before his own graduation party — Jackson Heidesch gave himself a bit of a gift.

The former Maroons cross country and track star traveled to St. Louis on Thursday for the Hoka Festival of Miles, where he ran the high school boys championship mile in 3 minutes, 59.08 seconds.

Heidesch finished fourth — behind South Dakota’s Simeon Birnbaum, North Carolina’s Rocky Hansen and Maryland’s Tinoda Matsatsa — in that event. But Heidesch’s time makes him officially the first Iowa prep athlete to ever run a sub-four-minute mile.

“It’s a weird feeling, but it’s finally starting to sink in,” Heidesch told the Des Moines Register. “Just realizing that I was the first one ever to do this and it’s a big deal to me. It’s a big barrier and it’s awesome, but the biggest thing for me is that I hope I’m paving the way for other Iowa high school athletes.”

The Dowling alumnus credits near-perfect conditions for helping achieve a long-term goal. Heidesch and the rest of the field had a “world-class” professional pacer for over half the race. The Midwest weather cooperated for the event, with the group running in mid-70-degree weather and little-to-no wind.

But there was also a lot of hard work that went into Heidesch achieving his dream. He ran the same event in the Hoka Festival of Miles in 4 minutes and 6 seconds last year and was determined to shave off as much time as possible in a year.

More:How Dowling Catholic's Jackson Heidesch became one of the top runners in the nation

Getting to that sub-four-minute mark, though, is easier said than done.

“Seven seconds is a ton for a mile,” Heidesch said. “I was having a really good cross-country season. I knew I had a good shot with a 4:02 (personal record). But it’s a long process, it’s working day in and day out...and just showing up on race day and being able to execute.”

Heidesch didn’t know he’d run under four minutes until about two minutes after he completed the race. He knew after the third lap that it would be close, but it wasn’t until they announced the official results that he’d done it.

Heidesch described that moment as “euphoric.”

He is the first Iowa prep to run a sub-four-minute mile and the 20th high schooler ever to break that barrier. Matsata, who finished third, was the 19th athlete to hit the mark.

“It’s wild,” Heidesch said. “I got fourth in a race where I race 3:59. It just shows the level of high school distance right now. It’s just insane and it’s crazy to see all these records go down, but I’m just blessed to be a part of it.”

Just because Heidesch achieved his goal of running a mile under for minutes, that doesn’t mean the work is done. He has another race at the Brooks PR Invitational on June 14, which is less than two weeks away. His sights are set on two things when he runs the mile at that meet.

“I’ll be going for a national title. And then, see if I could dip under the four-minute barrier more, see if I can go 3:58 or 3:57 or even 3:56 if I have some bonkers race. Just see how far I can dip under that barrier and maybe make that state record a little more untouchable.”

Alyssa Hertel is the college sports recruiting reporter for the Des Moines Register. Contact Alyssa at ahertel@dmreg.com or on Twitter @AlyssaHertel.