Pitt junior Sam Bair, running in the Kip Keino Mile in Ithaca, N.Y., was unable to crack four minutes yesterday to become half of the first American father-son duo to run sub four-minute miles.

But it wasn't because he got left in other runners' dust. No one else in the strong field broke four minutes, either.

"I did what I was supposed to do, but the wind might have been a problem, and the rabbit took off slow," said Bair, who finished seventh among a field of 15 in 4:05.46.

He attended the event with his father, also named Sam Bair, who first ran a mile in less than four minutes in 1967. The only father-son duo to eclipse four minutes is Kip and Martin Keino. Kip Keino won four Olympic medals for Kenya.

Nick Willis, a New Zealand Olympian, won yesterday in 4:00.29.

"Even some really good guys had problems with a slow race," Bair said. "In the middle of the race, I decided to take off."

Among the six runners ahead of him were two Olympians and a former NCAA champion, and all six have run sub four-minute miles. In fifth place was Blake Boldon, a Penn State graduate.

This was the first Kip Keino Mile. Bair, 22, a Shaler High School graduate, is glad he made the trip to Ithaca while his teammates at Pitt competed in the IC4A meet at Princeton.

"There was a dinner the night before, and I got to meet a lot of the other runners," he said. "I got to talk to them about their training.

"It was a nice experience."

Bair probably won't get another chance to run a mile until Pitt's indoor season next winter. Outdoor miles are nearly obsolete in these days of the 1,500-meter run.

He ran a Pitt-record 4:00.14 during the 2005-06 indoor season. He came close to a four-minute mile a few times this past indoor season.

At one meet, he was ill but still ran a 4:00.8. Another time, he was behind two runners who tired at the end and passing them caused him to slow to a time of 4:00.9.

At a meet late in the indoor season at Notre Dame, Bair had already qualified for the NCAA championships and was able to concentrate solely on speed. He was on pace to break four minutes -- until other runners behind him fell and clipped him, causing him to fall.

Yesterday, it was a slow overall pace that kept a sub four-minute time out of his grasp. Bair figures his time will come.

"I feel pretty good about it," he said.