Clayton Sayen breaks 1-mile UP record at inaugural Community Track Night in Houghton

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) - Recently graduated Michigan Tech University Track and Field Athlete Clayton Sayen is the new U.P. record holder for the one-mile run.

According to officials, the new record stands at 4 minutes, 5.97 seconds

The previous record stood at 4 minutes, 12 seconds.

Sayen made the attempt Wednesday evening during the first-ever Community Track Night at the Houghton High School (HHS) track.

He coordinated with the school, UP Health System - Portage and more to organize the event.

Sayen and HHS Athletic Director John Sanregret spoke on Monday about how the event came to be.

The event allowed all members of the community to come out and participate in several distance-running events.

These ranged from the men’s and women’s 1600-meter run to an 800-meter adaptive run.

Dozens of community members turned out for the event, both in the races and in the stands.

After breaking the record, Sayen spoke about how he felt during the attempt.

“It was like, like a dream, you know,” Sayen said. “The whole thing, start to finish. I felt pretty good, throughout the whole race. I thought I was going to hit a wall with a lap to go, maybe, but we pulled it out and actually closed pretty hard, I think, and I’m elated with it.”

During a speech following his race, Sayen thanked everyone for turning out for the event.

“Couldn’t have done it without you guys here tonight,” Sayen said to those gathered. “So, a huge thank you to everybody, for spending their beautiful evening with me, and we’ll see you next year.”

Copyright 2023 WLUC. All rights reserved.