Jackson Enters Rarefied, Four-Minute Air

The BC junior broke the four-minute barrier in the mile in late January.

On January 27, Boston College junior Steven Jackson stood at the starting line of a race he'd run countless times in his track career. He numbered one of more than 230 entries in the men's mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic hosted by Boston University, but his mind offered him the opportunity to run a race against a single competitor and single figure that he'd never conquered.

He was endeavoring to do something that had never happened in Boston College program history by running a mile in less than four minutes. For any runner, the initial time of 3:59.4 set by Roger Bannister on May 6, 1954 occupied hallowed…