Payton reaches milestone, breaks four-minute mile at Arkansas Qualifier

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — In the final competition before next week's Ohio Valley Conference Championships, Little Rock senior Andrew Payton reached a career milestone he'd been after for quite some time, clocking a sub-four-minute mile Friday during the Arkansas Qualifier.
 
The two-time defending OVC indoor champion in the event, Payton turned in a time of 3:58.02, breaking his own school record of 4:03.84, which he set just over a month ago on Jan. 17 in the same facility.
 

"Awesome pacing … the last couple of laps I thought to myself how this has been a goal of mine for so long. I gave it everything I had and it's been a long time coming." – Little Rock senior Andrew Payton

 
Payton finished fourth out of 29 finishers on Friday and will now set his sights on a three-peat at the OVC Championships in Indianapolis, where the Little Rock men's team will also seek to defend its 2024 team championship.
 

"Breaking four minutes in the mile is something that has been a goal for Andrew since we started recruiting him out of high school. I couldn't be happier to see all his hard work and sacrifices pay off." – Little Rock head coach JP Behnke

 
Payton enters ranked first in the OVC in the mile event, more than eight seconds faster than next best competitor Isaac Stanford of Southern Indiana.