Mark Fricker (born November 23, 1959) is a retired middle-distance track and field runner who achieved the sub-four-minute mile in the 1980s. Track and Field News 4 Minute Milers Fricker failed to win many of the races he ran because he did not possess the fast finishing kick of his contemporaries like Steve Scott, John Walker, Eamon Coughlan, Sydney Maree, Ray Flynn and the other legends of 1980s mile racing. His only actionable strategy to win was to run hard from the beginning of the race.
Context In the time when professionalism in track and field was still relatively new and pacesetters were not written into the rule books, Fricker became a popular addition to major races because he set up the competition to run fast times.https://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Oregon_State_University_Beaver_Yearbook/1983/Page_243.html E-Yearbook
Early career He was a high school star from Hemet High School. In 1977, Fricker won the mile at the prestigious Arcadia Invitationalhttp://ArcadiaInvite.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=title&title_id=643&event_id=63 Arcadia History and finished second in the CIF California State Meet, losing on the last lap to kicker Mark Stillman.http://www.prepcaltrack.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/1977/stateres.htm State Meet Results He then ran for Oregon State University, where he still holds the school record for the 1500-meter run. OSU Beavers
Career peak 1982 was his peak year, when he managed to achieve the number 10 ranking amongst milers in the United States.http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/rankings/men/1500usranking.pdf Track and Field News 1500 annual U.S. list He and his bright red hair received much TV time in the lead of big races, like the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championshipshttps://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19820621&id=Eo0yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-ucFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4634,3836120 Lawrence Journal-World - Jun 21, 1982 only to be engulfed by the fast finishers. Steve Scott's training log credits Fricker.http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/TrainingLogs/scott1981.htm Steve Scott Training log Scott set the American Record, Walker set the New Zealand National Record, and Flynn set the Irish National Record in the 1982 Bislett Dream Mile in Oslo, Norway following Fricker's pacesetting.http://www.flotrack.org/videos/speaker/45-steve-scott/420-1982-bislett-games-dream-mile-video FlotrackArchived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: To date, of those three records, only the American record has been improved upon just once, over 25 years later.
In 1984, Fricker finished ninth in the U.S. Olympic Trials after leading the race with almost a quarter mile to go.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: http://www.legacy.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf Olympic Trials results
Fricker's career extended for most of the 1980s based on his ability to set up great racessportsillustrated.cnn.com Sports Illustrated 1985 UCLA Milesportsillustrated.cnn.com 1987 Wannamaker Mile
Fricker's record for a 1500-meter run has been ranked as the 658th best 1500m run time ever recorded.http://hem.bredband.net/athletics/atb-m06.htm World men's all-time best 1500m
Personal life Fricker's daughter, McKayla won the 2014 NCAA Women's Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships in 800 meters while representing Seattle Pacific University. After college, she was the training partner of Alexa Efraimson.
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