Contact: Taiah Gallisath, Associate Director of Athletics Communications, 630-637-5302
 
Aug. 10, 2026 – North Central College men's cross country and track & field alumnus Braden Nicholson '24 / M'26 became the first reported Cardinal in program history, rostered or alumni, to record a sub four-minute mile in an official flat road race this past weekend at the Guardian Mile VIII in Cleveland.
 
Nicholson ran a time of 3:58.23 in the Elite Men's Mile GM VIII race, where he finished fourth in the field of 17 runners. The race was USA Track & Field (USATF) certified as a flat mile course. He joins Johnny Crain '14 in the short list of North Central runners who have accomplished the feat as Crain ran a 3:57.01 in a downhill mile race in Peoria as a graduate back in 2014.
 
During his time as a Cardinal, Nicholson was an eight-time track and field and cross country All-American and capped off his collegiate career with two national titles in the indoor 3,000-meter run and the 10,000m run outdoors in 2025.