Men's 800: Robby Andrews Does It Again And Wins A Legendary Race

With an unrelenting Johnny Gray-like frontrunner, an already legendary Dave Wottle-esque kicker, and an entire field of stars with PRs at 1:46.06 or faster - any of whom could win it all - this race was on paper a fan's dream, and in every respect, it lived up to its billing. Pardon the hyperbole, but this final was truly awesome - easily one of the most thrilling middle-distance races in NCAA history.

As expected, UCI's Charles Jock got out fast, while (also as expected) Virginia's Robby Andrews took up his customary position at the caboose. Wait - did we say Jock got out fast? This wasn't merely fast; this was Olympic final fast. 49.85 at the bell - that kind of fast. Amazingly, the entire field was within a second of Jock when they crossed the line with a lap remaining and many runners even looked a little antsy.

Andrews, despite being in last, had never been out so fast and by 500, it looked for a moment like he might actually get dropped. Jock's strategy seemed to be taking the monster kicker out of the game. But Andrews stayed close enough that when the hot pace finally began to show its first signs of taking a toll on the field, the Virginia sophomore was right back in the hunt. Although still in last with 200 to go, it seemed clear that Andrews would make a big move up through the field, but in uncharted waters pace-wise, would he have enough of a move left to win?

Jock, on a mission to kill this field with his shocking pace and win it wire-to-wire, continued to hammer as the amazingly intact group approached the 700 mark. Despite the world-class opening 600 (1:17.1), Casimir Loxsom of Penn State (who has split sub-46) was on Jock's shoulder along with Akron's surprising Willie Brown, with 2011 collegiate leader Cory Primm of UCLA also looking good. But Andrews, as he has done in all his other races, was swinging wide and picking off runners. There was, however, still one obstacle left for Andrews, and that was Oregon's Elijah Greer, who had also begun moving wide to make his bid with 100 left. At the rate Andrews was moving, it seemed that being forced into lane 3 to get around Greer might be the only thing preventing the Cavalier superstar from squeezing out yet another last-second victory.

Jock, meanwhile, was orchestrating a frontrunning masterpiece and having the race of his life. He showed no signs of losing this race. It was up to Andrews to make his own destiny, and having swung way wide past Greer (and briefly cutting him off in the homestretch), the Virginia stud was coming - but not so fast that he looked like he'd get it done this time. Jock's chance of holding on still looked great.

It came down to the last meter. Andrews somehow eked past Jock to claim the win by 0.04 - and boy, did he have to earn this one. Both warriors set PRs at 1:44.71 and 1:44.75, with Andrews missing the meet record of the great Mark Everett by only a hundredth. Greer had chopped his stride and flailed an arm briefly to avoid contact when Andrews cut in on the homestretch (he also got bumped out by Loxsom in the final 20 meters), but this distinctly had no bearing on his finishing place (although it probably cost him a sub-1:45), and he came home a clear 3rd in 1:45.06. Prior to this season, that time would have ranked 10th all-time among NCAA athletes. Loxsom also held on well to set a nice PR of 1:45.31 for 4th.

Afterwards, Andrews told CBS, "It was all guts. I just ran my heart out. I didn't come here to lose. I have so much respect for these athletes in the finals. I did not come here to lose, though."

As for Jock, he was in good spirits after the race. We asked him if he ever thought about not trying to run from the front and he quipped, "Everybody expects me to take it out. I was thinking about just getting in front and going through in 55-56 and screwing everybody over, but my coach would've kicked my butt."

Quick Thought #1 - A truly sensational race.

Quick Thought #2 - In a couple of years, will we feel sorry for sophomore phenoms Casimir Loxsom and Elijah Greer? As sophs, they have both run 1:45.31 or faster and yet with Andrews the mix, it seems likely they might never win an NCAA title.

Quick Thought #3 - Does everyone realize that the top 5 from this race return for next year and there was only one senior in the field? Crazy.

Quick Thought #4 - Andrews just barely missed the meet record by .01. The second, third and fourth place times were the best times for place in NCAA history.

More: Charles Jock Overcomes Father's Death & Journey From Africa To 800m Stardom

Men's Steeple: History Repeats Itself As Hughes And Cabral Go 1-2

The men's steeple final of 2011 looked much like the final of 2010 up front, as Matt Hughes got the win and Donn Cabral finished second.

Hughes led wire to wire and was rewarded with a 2nd straight NCAA title as he gave his coach, 33-year-old Brice Allen, the ultimate retirement present. Yes, that's right - the 33-year-old Allen is getting out of the college coaching game after this year to take over a family business in PA and regain some semblance of a normal life. Coaching is full of big thrills but it also is incredibly time-consuming, as a college coach like Allen is busy 30-31 weekends a year and then gone recruiting internationally for 2-3 weeks in the summer.

Hughes executed the frontrunning strategy to perfection, as he took things out relaxed. His first three full laps from the finish line were run in 68 while his last four were no slower than 67.64. Hughes was exceptionally good on each water jump and he accelerated heading into the third-to-last water jump to open up a gap on Cabral and never looked back. In the end,  Hughes' race was probably better than he could have imagined, as not only did he repeat but he also did so with a huge PR of 9.31 seconds, as his winning time of 8:24.87 (previous PR of 8:34.18) was a stadium record and also good enough for Hughes to acquire the Olympic and World Championships B standard, which should be good enough to get Hughes to Worlds in 2011, as he's Canada's top steepler. Had Hughes not celebrated a bit after coming off the last hurdle, he might have made the Olympic A standard of 8:23.10. He at least ended up with the stadium record.

However, he deserved to celebrate a little on Friday, as he dominated the best collegiate steeplers in the country once again from the front on Friday night. That being said, we really enjoyed hearing the old-time Iowa guy next to us in the stands yell at Hughes as celebrated coming off the final hurdle, "Run, Hot Dog, Run!" The elderly gentlemen wanted to make sure Hughes got the stadium record, as the old record wasn't that much slower (sorry, we don't remember what it was).

Quick Thought #1 - Indiana's Andrew Poore wasn't the best steepler on his team until tonight as he turned the tables on Big 10 champ De'Sean Turner.

Quick Thought #2 - As quickly as Craig Forys looked amazing in the semis, he fell off in the finals. The former prep star only made NCAA finals on time out of the East regional but won his heat with ease on Wednesday. A much more human-looking Forys showed up on Friday.

Quick Thought #3 - Oregon's Steve Finley, who came into NCAA regionals #1 in the country but was lucky to make the final after running terribly on Wednesday, wasn't any better on Wednesday.

Section  1 Finals
  1   826 Matt Hughes         SR Louisville             8:24.87   10   
  2   967 Donn Cabral         JR Princeton              8:32.14    8   
  3   781 Andrew Poore        JR Indiana                8:36.40    6   
  4  1014 John Sullivan       SR Stanford               8:37.74    5   
  5  1156 Brett Hales         SR Weber State            8:37.96    4   
  6   783 De'Sean Turner      JR Indiana                8:39.12    3   
  7  1010 Benjamin Johnson    JR Stanford               8:40.75    2   
  8   601 Justin Tyner        SR Air Force              8:40.83    1   
  9   848 Craig Forys         JR Michigan               8:44.88  
 10   785 Andy Weatherford    JR Indiana                8:47.72  
 11  1025 Travis Mahoney      JR Temple                 8:52.54  
 12   798 Hillary Bor         SR Iowa State             8:54.93  
 13   949 Steve Finley        SR Oregon                 9:05.94  
 14   704 Ryan McDermott      SR Duke                   9:14.28                

Women's 5,000: The 2010 Cross Country Championship Is Played Out Again On The Track

Day 3 of the NCAA came to a close with a fantastic and fast women's 5,000. The pace was hot from the get-go and most of the field went with it, as 16 runners stayed with the lead pack through quick opening splits of 5:02 for 1,600 and 11:13 for 3,200, as Stanford's Kathy Kroeger got the pace rolling and kept it going with a little help from UNC's Kendra Schaaf. With 4 laps remaining (10:50.91 for Schaaf), co-favorite Jordan Hasay, who had been running right off the leaders' shoulders throughout the race in third place went to the front and tried to tighten the screws a bit, as she ratcheted the pace down just a little with two straight 75s after the field had previously run three straight 76s. With 800 remaining (13:21.43), the lead pack was down to eight, as the runners began to accelerate even more in their bid for glory.

With 500 to go, the lead pack was down to 5 as the Hasay ran the penultimate lap in 71.55. With 300 left, it was a three-person race for the title and the three faces up front looked very familiar, as it was the same trio that duked it out in a sprint for the NCAA cross-country title last fall, when Hasay had been unable to drop Villanova's Sheila Reid and Georgetown's Emily Infeld. With 200 to go, Reid overtook Hasay and seemed to be powering to victory. But with 150 to go, Infield moved passed Hasay into second and for a brief moment we wondered if Infeld would be able to finally get the best of her Big East rival Reid, who in addition to cross-country had bested Infeld indoors in the 1k at conference and 3k at nationals and outdoors at conference in the 1,500 and 5,000. Infeld tried her best but in the end, the outcome would be exactly the same as it had been basically all year long. Reid first (15:37.57 - last lap of 64.54), Infeld second (15:38.23 - 65.02).

Just as was the case at NCAA cross-country, Hasay ended up losing out (15:41.00) in the sprint for glory between herself, Reid and Infeld - only this time she would be sniped just before the finish line by the surprise performer of the night, the rapidly-improving Abbey D'Agostino of Dartmouth, who blitzed a final 400 of 67.13 to end up third as a freshman in 15:40.69.

The 15:40.69 time represented a massive PR of 19.20 seconds for D'Agostino, who had run 15:59.89 at Regionals. The crazy thing was that 15:59.89 had itself been a massive PR for D'Agostino as well, as she had run 16:23.50 in her 5,000 debut at Raleigh Relays. So in the span of basically two weeks,  D'Agostino has lowered her 5,000 best by 42.81 seconds. Not too shabby - actually that's simply sensational - particularly for someone who only ran 5:17 for 1,600 last year as senior in HS (but we believe 4:58-5:00 as a sophomore).

D'Agostino has clearly thrived in her first year at Dartmouth, as has her coach Mark Coogan (1996 Olympian for the US in the marathon), who also is in his first year at Dartmouth. A year ago, one Dartmouth girl broke 5:00 for the mile, this year, we believe something like 13 have done it (or it's equivalent). After the race when we asked Coogan, who is an official FOLR (friend of LetsRun.com) what the pre-race plan or expectations had been for D'Agostino, he said, "I told her I knew she could run 15:45."

Coogan clearly was a bit off on his prediction, as D'Agostino moves to #2 all-time in the US junior ranks - just behind Molly Huddle's 15:36.95.

Quick Thought #1 - In terms of Hasay versus Reid round 2, a reversal of fortunes isn't impossible, as Hasay is very resilient. Indoors, Reid got the best of Hasay on the DMR anchor leg but then on Day 2 Hasay got the best of Reid in the 3,000 final after Hasay had already won the mile. That being said, we expect Reid to complete the double.

Quick Thought #2 - Heading into NCAA finals, only four entrants had broken 15:50 on the year. 7 did it on Friday.