It would take a runner eight laps around The University of Rhode Island’s Mackal Field House indoor track to complete a mile run: not your typical track.
It would take Rhode Island’s sixth-year engineering student, and former URI track athlete, Eric Zulkofske, less than four minutes to do so: not your typical track athlete.
Middle-distance runner Roger Bannister became the first person to ever record a sub-four-minute mile when he clocked in at 3:59.4, 70 years ago.
Today, the world record time for a mile run belongs to Moroccan Olympian Hicham El Cuerrouj, who crossed the finish line in 3:43.13.
As for Zulkofske, he has come within five-tenths of a second from Bannister’s original mark.
Zulkofske was a staple piece of URI’s recently established Atlantic 10 dynasty, capturing three A-10 titles in a row. This past season, Zulkofske had to watch as the Rams eclipsed their three-peat for their fourth consecutive title after he ran out of college track eligibility following the 2022 season.
When Zulkofske was forced to hang up the spikes for URI, he had clocked in a personal best mile time of 4:06.87. The three time A10 champion had seen his mile time progress exponentially over the years, in all, he shaved off over 22 seconds from his first-ever collegiate time of 4:29.24.
“Freshman year, way back then, it was tough adjusting to college so the times weren’t really there,” Zulkofske said. “[Former Head Coach] John Copeland, he kind of just sat me down and said, ‘Hey, you know, it happens to freshmen, you’re not going to run as fast as you hope.’”
That was five years ago, when Zulkofske was nearly 30 seconds away from the unprecedented sub-four-minute mile, an eternity on the track.
“It was more just about getting more miles under me,” Zulkofske said. “Each year I just progressively started taking care of my body a little bit more and focusing on nutrition and stretching… Just doing the right things to, little bit by little bit, get there.”
Fast forward to this year, and Zulkofske is still progressing little by little, training alongside his former teammates, now as an independent runner.
Although he would no longer be repping Rhode Island’s white and blue, Zulkofske geared up for the 2024 Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational in February, filled with collegiate and professional runners, with one goal in mind.
“Our plan was to just run close to sub-four in my last year of eligibility, which I did, and just try and break it [this] year,” Zulkofske said. “[URI assistant] Coach [Brian] Doyle was just saying, ‘This is probably your best opportunity.’”
When opportunity called, Zulkofske answered, recording a time of 3:59.93 and officially breaking the sub-four-minute mile.
“Coach Doyle, he just kind of told me ‘don’t even look at the clock, just focus on running behind the guy in front of you,’” Zulkofske said. “The only time I looked at the clock is when I had a lap to go and realized I had to start running real fast.”
Now, Zulkofske plans to take his eyes off the clock for the foreseeable future.
“At this point that was pretty much the ultimate goal, now it’s just, you know there’s a lot less pressure on me,” Zulkofske said. “I’m just kind of doing it just to have fun, see what else I can do.”
Zulkofske’s time on the URI men’s track team may have come to an end, but as he continues his own journey, he remains a strong presence in the facility as a training partner.
“I’ve just been running with them and training with them so they’ve been real good training partners,” Zulkofske said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them for just continuing to win… They’ve just built a dynasty.”
The story of URI’s recent reign of excellence cannot be told without Eric Zulkofske. Now, he has begun to write his own story, and his sub-four-minute mile might just be the first chapter.