Lewis Johnson: 'Maybe Robby Andrews is Back!"

Slow ass race, beat Wiz, Wooooo

Good to see. Hopefully he can put it together for outdoor as well.

Was impressed how well he finished given his seesawing through the race. I'm happy for him.

1000 is Robbie's sweet spot. We'll see how it translates to 800/1500.

Robby FINALLY took the lead and didn't sit DFL for most of the race, confidence is key with this young one. He's got the tools, just needs to stay confident. It's a shame, because four years of college would have done that. Instead, he hung out at pizza parlors in New Jersey and wasted valuable life lessons he could have learned in college. Seems like he finally "gets" it. Look out if he has!!!

wejo wrote:

Definitely a convincing victory.

Discuss.

Robby looked strong, competitive, and confident, and I'm very happy to see it, but I'm not gonna let myself get too excited till I see him run sub-1:46 again.

Off the top of my head, I'm guessing it's close to three years since he's done that.

Andrews' 800 PB (1:44.71) is from 2011 NCAA Ch. His most recent sub-1:46 was 1:45.06 at the NY Adidas GP June 2012. As for other of his best marks, his 1k 2:17.90 was from the Armory meet (February 2013), and his best 1500, 3:34.78 was from Oxy High Performance (May 2012).

In another thread somewhere on here earlier this winter, I stated that I thought he looked kind of lost and unfit in the races I had seen in the past couple of years. He did not look like that today (even if it was not a really fast time against a great field, etc., etc.). He looked fit, and he looked like he knew what he was doing -- or at least knew how to respond to circumstances as they developed in the race.

He did say in the post-race interview how much he likes racing indoors, and the 1k. That's good for him. It remains to be seen if he can maintain what looks like progress shown in this meet, and fit that progress into the 800/1500. I hope he succeeds.

The man bun changes everything. Mark my words, big things from Andrews this summer.

Thanks. He said in the interview that it's definitely gonna be all 1500 in the spring. Surprised me a little.

Remind me, has he even run a mile this year at all?

If he has, I'm pretty sure it was really slow.

Am I forgetting one?

ANDREWS IS BACK BABY!

Agreed.

Any dude who rocks a man bun is either awesome or terrible. Nothing in between. So far so good.

he didnt race anyone impressive enough to make me think he is back

Idk if I agree with trying to focus on the 15. The US is so ridiculously deep at 1500 it will be tough to get a world championship spot. The 800 is a lot more open especially with rumors of Nick moving up to the 1500 and question marks on a lot or other runners.

Floier, Ric wrote:

Slow ass race, beat Wiz, Wooooo

Pretty sure "Wiz" was in the 600m, and Robby was in the 1000m. Have you ever seen a track meet before?

He's back. Yeah, to beating up B- fields.

2 Kyle Merber Hoka One One 2:22.39 1 (2)

3 Michael Rutt Hoka N J N Y 2:22.44 1 (3)

4 Cory Leslie Nike 2:22.54 1 (4)

5 Joseph Gioielli Unattached 2:24.07 1 (5)

6 James Gilreath adidas Tm Green 2:24.26 1 (6)

7 Harun Abda Nike / OTC Elite 2:24.45 1 (7)

8 Liam Boylan-Pett N J N Y TC 2:26.18 1 (8)

9 Thomas Scott Unattached 2:28.23

Even if he races the likes of Wheating, and we can really say He's Back Baby!...

...back to what? Back to being a 1:45-6 guy? We have plenty of them on the circuit. 19 sub 1:47 in 2014. 7 sub 1:46.

Marmaduke wrote:

He's back. Yeah, to beating up B- fields.

2 Kyle Merber Hoka One One 2:22.39 1 (2)

3 Michael Rutt Hoka N J N Y 2:22.44 1 (3)

4 Cory Leslie Nike 2:22.54 1 (4)

5 Joseph Gioielli Unattached 2:24.07 1 (5)

6 James Gilreath adidas Tm Green 2:24.26 1 (6)

7 Harun Abda Nike / OTC Elite 2:24.45 1 (7)

8 Liam Boylan-Pett N J N Y TC 2:26.18 1 (8)

9 Thomas Scott Unattached 2:28.23

Even if he races the likes of Wheating, and we can really say He's Back Baby!...

...back to what? Back to being a 1:45-6 guy? We have plenty of them on the circuit. 19 sub 1:47 in 2014. 7 sub 1:46.

Well, Andrews is a 1:44 guy with multiple NCAA titles as an underclassman, how many of those do we have on the circuit?

eswallace wrote:

Idk if I agree with trying to focus on the 15. The US is so ridiculously deep at 1500 it will be tough to get a world championship spot. The 800 is a lot more open especially with rumors of Nick moving up to the 1500 and question marks on a lot or other runners.

Yep. That's exactly what I thought when I heard that.

I could see that he, or Vig, might think he's ultimately got more potential at the mile, but we haven't seen a decent performance at the longer distance in, like, forever, and we are seeing at least a hint of some decent fitness for 800 now.

And, like you said, the 800 looks a LOT more open right now.

If it is gonna be all 15, he'll have to show something 3:38/3:55-ish pretty early before anyone will start to take him at all seriously, and, again, I don't think he's run anything like that for close to three years.

I'd sure love to see it, though. He's a hell of a likable kid, and a fantastic talent, and it sure would be fun to see him get all the way back, and be a legitimate threat again.

I thought along similar lines at first. However, the more I think about it I believe he has a better shot of making a team at 1500 due to his style. He has the ability to kick extremely well against a medium pace. He hasnt really shown he can run well in an extremely fast race because he doesn't have the pr's. An 800 where the winner is 1:42-1:43 or a 1500 where the winner is 3:30-3:32 are a little out of his range at this point.

The 800 at the trials will likely be a very fast race because you have guys like Solomon, Johnson, Loxsom, and Sowinski who all run the first lap fast and create a fast winning time.

The 1500 will be the same as it always is, jog around for 2.5 laps, slowly build, and then sprint for 200m. I can see him outkicking everyone except Centro and possibly Manzano if hes healthy in a situation like this. (for this example I am assuming Wheating is unhealthy like usual)

Maybe.

Wheating seems to be in a situation very similar to Robby's right now.

He seems to be the healthiest he's been for quite a while, and he's run a couple of decent races in the last six weeks, but so far nothing fast enough to put any fear in anybody.

I'm regarding him just about the same way I'm looking at Robby at the moment. It's nice to see him look comfortable and solid running 1:48 or 3:59, but no one's gonna take you seriously until you pop a 1:46 or a 3:38/3:55.

If he does do that anytime soon, people will definitely start to pay attention, just like they will with Robby.

I'd love to see both these guys make legitimate comebacks this spring, but we're definitely not there yet.