Mike Stahr
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Mike Stahr (born December 9, 1964) is a former American track and field runner who won the 1982 and 1983 Millrose Games High School mile titles.
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[edit] High School Career
Stahr attended Carmel High School, where he was guided by coach Paul Collins. Stahr's first high-profile victory came in the 1982 Millrose High School Mile, where he won in 4 minutes and 13 seconds [1] against a very talented field of All Americans and a group of runners that were later to be considered some of the Best High School Runners ever. After a victory at Millrose in 1982, Stahr came back in 1983 [2] to defend his crown. Going in to the race, Stahr talked about breaking the legendary four-minute barrier. But after a first 400 meters in 58.6 seconds, the race became tactical with Stahr and the other leaders choosing to vary the pace. Stahr held off many challenges in the last half mile and held on to win in 4:10. Stahr went on to capture four New York State Mile Championship Titles and ended his high school career with personal bests of: 400m-47 800m-1:50 1000m-2:24 1500m-3:46 Mile-4:06 [3] 2 Mile-9:01.
[edit] Collegiate Career
Stahr joined Arizona State University in 1983. As a freshman he made the finals of the NCAA indoor 1000m with the fastest qualifying time (2:23.19) but fell on the second turn. His time in the trials was faster than the NCAA winner, William Wuyke at 2:24.06. [4] He anchored the World Record 4x800 with an official split of 1:45. His coach Len Miller (coach of American record holder Steve Scott) had him unofficially clocked at 1:44.8. Still as a freshman he posted a 45.8 relay split. During his sophomore year he came in 4th place in the D8 regionals to earn him a spot at the NCAA XC meet where he finished 101st. In his junior year he transferred to Georgetown University after becoming frustrated with five coaching changes. In 1987 Stahr captured the NCAA Indoor Mile Championship in a time of 4:02 [5], and during the outdoor season he anchored the World Record Distance Medley Relay, running a 1600 meter split of 3:54 [6] to carry his team to a time of 9:20.9 seconds, eclipsing the old World Record by two seconds. It still to this day stands as the school record at Georgetown University. [7]
[edit] Post-Collegiate Career
After graduating from Georgetown, Stahr competed in the European Track Circuit. In '88 he qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 800 and 1500 and was 4th in the US Nationals in the 800. Stahr raced well in the trials but was unable to qualify for games.
[edit] Today
Stahr lives in Oxford, Ohio with his wife and four children. He is a full-time computer programmer, visiting professor at Miami University, and a private coach for all levels of athletes. Stahr is also the founder and developer of the very popular running website Running2Win.com that offers many services for runners such as a detailed running log, discussion board, mapping features, etc.
