McCarthy Competing in International Mile at 50th Prefontaine Classic
7/3/2025 2:30:00 PM | Track and Field
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Three-time All-American Aidan McCarthy is set to compete in the men’s international mile at the 50th edition of the prestigious Prefontaine Classic on Saturday at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The Prefontaine Classic is widely regarded as one of the best track and field meets in the world and the one-day meet will feature 98 Olympic and Paralympic medalists and 14 world record holders.
McCarthy is slated to run in the men’s international section of the mile at 12:51 p.m. Saturday. The race will feature some of the world’s best young middle distance runners and a handful of current collegiate All-Americans, including Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum, Virginia’s Gary Martin, Wisconsin’s Adam Spencer and North Carolina’s Ethan Strand who all earned All-American honors in the men’s 1,500-meter at this year’s NCAA Outdoor Championships.
A stream is available to McCarthy’s race on USATF.TV with the purchase of a subscription. The main portion of the meet that will feature the world’s best athletes will be streamed live on NBC and Peacock from 1-3 p.m.
McCarthy enters the meet with a lifetime best time of 3:52.83 in the mile, which he ran indoors at the Husky Classic this February. The time was the 10th fastest ran in the NCAA this indoor season.
The Pleasanton, Calif. native is just three weeks removed from placing fifth in the men’s 800-meter at the NCAA Outdoor Championships held at Oregon’s Hayward Field to earn First Team All-American honors outdoors for the second time in his career and the first time since 2023. The performance outdoors coupled with his third-place finish at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships allowed McCarthy to become the eighth three-time NCAA Division I First Team All-American in program history and first since Sharon Day-Monroe earned All-American status seven times across her career (2004-08).
McCarthy was crowned the Big West Men’s Track Athlete of the Year for the second time after scoring 20 team points to help Cal Poly capture its second straight conference title. He broke the Jack Rose Track facility record in the 800 (1:46.62) en route to claiming his third career Big West title in the event, and obliterated the Big West meet record in the men’s 1,500 by over three seconds (3:39.35) to capture his first conference title in the event. He became just the fifth Big West athlete ever to sweep the men’s 800 and 1,500.
McCarthy is the current school holder in the outdoor 800, indoor 800, indoor 1,000 and mile. He became the third men’s Division I indoor All-American in school history and first since 1973 this winter and ran the fastest indoor 800 by an American in collegiate history (1:45.19) at the BU Last Chance National Qualifier on March 2.
McCarthy is also scheduled to go back to Eugene at the end of the month to take part in the 2025 USATF Outdoor National Championships held on July 31-August 3 at Oregon’s Hayward Field. He will run the 800-meter at the meet. McCarthy will return to Cal Poly next season to run track indoors and outdoors as he has no eligibility remaining in cross country.
