He set 5 American records in the late 1970s.
Here is a Runner's World article about John when he was a Junior at MSU.
John describes his pursuit of the American records himself in the italicized text below:
Before the track season on 1/7/1973 I drove to Chicago and ran in an Indoor 20,000 meter race at the University of Chicago Indoor dirt field house. The sole purpose was to try to break the 20,000 meter American Record. I took the lead just before 15,000 meters and set 4 records(15,000 meters, 10 miles, one hour and 20,000 meters). The one thing I remember about the race is that Ken Young who finished 2nd peeled off the bottom of his left foot in a waffle shape because he was wearing waffle racers.
During the 1973 track season I was injured much of the season and didn't run any track meets with the team or do any speed work because of a leg problem. I ran in an all comer meet at the University of Minnesota on 4/28/73 and ran 30:27.1 for 6 miles which was faster than the Mankato State record. We held the NCC conference meet in Mankato and I asked Bud to run in the meet because of my race on 4/28/1973. He told me that I wasn't as good as our top three runners and if I ran a time trial 2 days before conference and ran 30:27 that I could run conference. I told him that it was OK and would run in an open race the day before conference in Chicago. On 5/13/1973 I ran on the University of Chicago Outdoor Track in a 50,000 meter race. My goal was to break the American Track records on an outdoor track for 40,000 meters, 25 mile, marathon and 50,000 meters. I broke the first 3 records before cramping up and finishing 3rd for 50,000 meters in 3:15:37. I drove back to Mankato and was a timer for the conference meet.
After I graduated Chuck Peterson helped me out and put on 2 indoor track long distance races on the tenth of a mile track at Mankato. On 1/24/1976 I broke the 15 mile and 25,000 meter indoor records
and on 2/26/1977 I broke the 20 miles and two hour indoor record.
