EUGENE, OREGON, April 17–18 — In a podcast and story published on April 09, über-talented Oregon redshirt soph Simeon Birnbaum scorned the idea of chasing fast times — to put it mildly.
“I feel like almost anyone can run like fast times,” he told LetsRun.com, “but it’s very few people who can like win consistently. Who really cares how fast you run?… Go win something.”
But Saturday at the Oregon Team Invitational in front of his home fans, Birnbaum decided, at least for about 3½ minutes in perfect conditions, that he cared very much about running fast.
Really, really fast.
Meet the 1500’s new Collegiate Record-holder. Paced nearly perfectly by teammate Tom Palfrey to the bell at 2:38.10, Birnbaum hammered a 53.59 closer and finished triumphantly in 3:31.69, hacking a massive 1.33 chunk off the previous 3:33.02 mark set by ’25 Villanova senior Liam Murphy last spring. It was a masterclass performance by someone whose previous PR was just 3:37.02. He propelled the CR right past the 3:32s into the 3:31s.
This wasn’t a race with wavelights or a rabbit recruited by meet organizers. This was a guy asking a teammate to take him on a solo record attempt, old school-style. “Shoutout to Tom to agreeing to pace it and sacrifice his own race,” said Birnbaum.
Palfrey towed Birnbaum through the finish line the first time in 42.67, then through laps of 57.30 and 58.13 before drifting outside on the penultimate homestretch. Birnbaum’s lap splits from the start line likewise bespoke superbly measured effort: 57.1, 57.4, 57.2. Then the Duck turned on the afterburners and there was no slowing, no struggle.
He and Palfrey had strung out the field, which included NCAA 5000 champ Brian Masau, early on. The Oklahoma State star gamely hung on for a kilo, then started grimacing with effort. He dropped more than 6 seconds in the last lap to finish 2nd in 3:39.27.
Birnbaum said the decision to try to rip one like this was born of embracing the benefits of long-sought, long-term fitness and training. “I’ve been looking at the NCAA record for a while now and it’s just recent where I was feeling in shape enough to get it, so I talked to my coach and I was like, ‘I think I’m ready to do it,’ and he agreed with me.
“I’ve been healthy for a year. This is my first time in 2–3 years where I’ve run for a year pretty much consistently.… You can’t always know when you’re gonna feel this good and I’ve just been feeling really, really good this past month and when you’re feeling that good, you don’t want to waste it. So when you look at the weather and see a 70-degree day and no wind, it’s like time to run fast.”
Birnbaum said they went out there ready to feel pain — except the pain didn’t come until nearly the end. “Came through 300, I took a peek at the clock — right on pace. Then you kind of just wait for your body to start feeling the pain. And I got really deep into the race. We had 400 to go and I still felt like I had a lot of run.”
While the tempo was pretty quick, Birnbaum felt so incredibly good that he urged Palfrey on 2-3 times. “I told him ‘faster,’” he said. “It’s just like, you’re doing something really, really hard and it doesn’t feel that hard. It’s one of the best feelings ever.”
Birnbaum added that getting to this point has been a matter of finally being able to add to his “God-given natural speed” the necessary endurance. “There’s no way to cheat around those miles you’ve got to put in to get that strength and that fitness.”
The bottom line is that the Stevens (Rapid City, South Dakota) product is beginning to fulfill the massive promise apparent after his HS Athlete of the Year campaign in 2023. Over two months that spring of his senior year, he won the Arcadia 3200 in 8:34.10, beat the deepest prep mile field in history in St. Louis at 3:57.63, ruled the Brooks 2M with another 8:34.10, ran 3:37.93 in a pro 1500 at Nike Outdoor Nationals, then won the Nike prep mile two days later in 4:02.22 with a 55.83 closer.
At Oregon, though, he has struggled to adapt to Coach Jerry Schumacher’s training, suffering various injuries and just occasionally showing flashes of brilliance. But his current run of success seemed to start to take hold when he won last spring’s Big 10 5K with a sparkling 13:31.87. He got faster and more consistent this past winter, culminating in a 7:41.85 in the NCAA Indoor 3K, barely beaten by Colin Sahlman.
Finally, an impressive 13:19.76 PR 5000 victory at Stanford two weeks ago (56.47 last lap rolling hard over the final 200) confirmed he was starting his outdoor campaign very fit.
His goals for this spring and summer? “I’m coming for everything,” he concluded. “I believe 100 percent I can run much faster come June.”
OREGON TEAM INVITE MEN’S 1500 RESULTS
1. *Simeon Birnbaum (Or) 3:31.69 CR (old CR—3:33.02 Liam Murphy [Vill] ’25) (57.1, 57.4 [1:54.5], 57.2 [2:51.7], 40.0) (finish—13.1, 53.59, 1:51.72)
official splits at finish line (42.67, 57.30 [1:39.97], 58.13 [2:38.10], 53.59);
2. *Brian Musau’ (OkSt-Ken) 3:39.27; 3. **Tayson Echohawk (Or) 3:39.48; 4. *James Harding’ (Or-NZ) 3:39.85; 5. ***Anthony Fasthorse (Or) 3:40.29.
