Cristian Soratos

Cristian Soratos (born September 26, 1992) is a Mexican American middle-distance track athlete. Born in Salinas, California, he first took up competitive running at Salinas High School. He then ran at Hartnell College, after which he was recruited to Montana State University. After running several races at high altitude, Soratos ran his first sub-4 minute mile in 2015, and went on to emerge as one of the fastest collegiate runners in the United States.

Running career

High school

Soratos attended Salinas High School in Salinas, California. He was known to have been a runner of small stature. As a senior in high school, Soratos recorded a personal best 1600 meter time of 4:23.26.^[2] He was not subsequently recruited to a track program, and continued his post-high school running career voluntarily.^[3]

Collegiate

Soratos first attended Hartnell College, where he began training for cross country and track under coach Chris Zepeda.^[4] At Hartnell, Soratos pursued a high-mileage training program which at one point involved running 80 miles per week.^[4] In his sophomore year at Hartnell, Soratos recorded 3:47 in the 1500 meters, and subsequently transferred to Montana State University at the insisting of MSU coach Lyle Weese, who was once a standout Hartnell runner in his youth.^[5] In one of MSU's home meets, on January 16, 2015, Soratos ran a 4:05 indoor mile, which the NCAA converted to a 3:56 result due to Bozeman's altitude of approximately 4,400 feet above sea level.^[6] It was the first race in which Soratos wore his Sonic the Hedgehog long socks, which attracted much attention in the sport.^[7]

Commentary from enthusiasts and experts alike were overwhelmingly skeptical of the NCAA-converted result.^[6] However, the following month, Soratos garnered national attention when he ran the indoor mile of at the 2015 University of Washington Huskey Classic, whose venue was much closer to sea level, with a time of 3:55.27.^[8] The result automatically put Soratos in first place in the collegiate men's national leaderboard for the indoor mile, and also meant qualification for the NCAA DI Indoor Track and Field Championships. At the 2015 NCAA DI Indoor T&F Championships, Soratos placed second in an extraordinary indoor mile finals race behind Edward Cheserek, during which Soratos, after running the first three laps at approximately 64 seconds per 400 meters, exploded into the lead after the third lap with a 53.36 second 400-meter split in the middle of the mile race.^[9] Although Soratos finished behind Cheserek, a running website, Letsrun.com, called the race "a mid-race surge for the ages" in reference to Cristian's mid-race burst.^[9]

References