Andrew Wheating 3:38.60!!!!!

you oughta back up such a statement with some money. my bet is wheating won't place top 3 at ncaa's. yeah, he's running fast now, but ncaa's is in 5-6 weeks. he might be able to run a fast 200m or a fast 400m or 800m then, but he won't have the strength. he's peaking right now. come on, 3:58, 1:47, 3:38- you think he can keep that up let alone improve upon that for the next 5 weeks? granted, ncaa's will be a tactical race coming down to who knows how to keep themself in the right place at the right time and have the best tactics, but wheating won't win. wheating will be lucky to finish in the top 10 at the olympic trials, if he chooses to enter them.

lagat

webb

manzano

lomong

Dominating kick by Wheating! Simply un-answerable by any other runner in the field. Interesting to think what he might have hit if we wasn't boxed till 280m to go... Great Things!!

anybody think he didn't run the most tactically smart race like me? I'm not bashing him and I couldn't do that in a million years but from what I saw his third lap really slipped. Obviously he wasn't in too much pain so why drift back from woods back into the crowd from 800-1200 and then run the risk of getting boxed? Stay on woods the entire race and then go for broke in the same fashion and run 3:36/3:37. Just me?

Courtesy snapshots ?

yeah woods got balls. if whaeating sat on him he could have banged out a 337

i disagree. I dont really think he will make the olympics or anything, but to say that he is peaking is ridiculous. It is clear that none of the races he has run this year have tested him to his limits. Every race he sits with the pack and blows by with 200 to go, and it is obvious that he always has a ton in the tank based on his finishes. He has yet to be contested this year; it seems to me that he has been very conservative in races, which leads me to believe that he can still do much more.

what? only on lets run will someone believe that a 3:58 miler will undoubtedly defeat a 3:46 miler...

Ok. All jokes aside, who in the hell is this guy???!!! These recent times have just come out of nowhere.

I read in the Oregonian that Wheating never competed for his high school team because the private school he attended in Vermont didn't have track. He didn't take up the sport until his senior year when he sought out Jeff Johnson, formerly of Nike, who was retired living in New Hampshire, as a coach. He really did come out of nowhere.

andy is from vermont. his school, a union academy, is in NH near j.d. salinger's home in cornish.

i posted information about him a couple weeks ago and wejo linked it to the front page then.

this is andy's 3rd season of track. his inexperience is the reason he is subject to tactical mistakes although he is fit enough to recover from them. he will learn to race better.

as for placing at NCAA's or the olympic trials no one can predict that sort of thing. one reason we have no idea where he is in his training cycle only vin lananna and andy powell can accurately comment on his level of fitness and how long it can last. so why don't we all just watch and enjoy something very interesting and exciting?

andy/duck team mates, i just called jeff, all he could do was laugh with approval and ask "who did he beat?"

I hope he enters the 1500m at the Olympic Trials and not the 800m... he would be a wild card alongside Lagat, Webb, Manzano, and Lomong.

kimball union academy is his high school

yeah, he has run superb the last 3 weeks, always had something left in the tank. but the tank runs out. look at webb. he had a few great times in a row. every athlete has a period in the season where he just hits it for a few weeks. famiglietti did when he ran 7:38 and 13:11, mcdougal did when he went 3:57 and 13:20, solinsky did when he went 3:39, 3:37, 7:36, 13:12, and it that peak can vary in sustainment, and yes, he has been looking very strong, but i don't think he will look much stronger. his strength is maxed out, and he might be able to run faster in a faster more evenly paced race.

he has the potential and promise to be a fantastic mid-d runner. and he has definitely proven it in the last few weeks.

but he will not make the olympic team, and i will not be surprised if he does not get top 3 at ncaa's.

no one ever talks about when tom lancashire went 3:57 indoors and followed that up with a 1:45 in early spring the same year, and then he went on to get either 2nd or 3rd at ncaa's behind rono i believe, maybe manzano.

wheating can be really good, but he's still just a pre-madonna. look at steve sherer. he ran 3:56 indoors and what has he done recently. runners have peaks and valleys, and i don't mean to sound negative, because i really do think wheating has blown everyone away and him and his coaches deserve all the credit, but i think he'll be heading for a little slump when the ncaa's and trials roll around. unless he's capable of going 3:35 and 1:45/6, but i don't think he is. i think he's maxing out right now.

I still say watch out for Bumbalough, Acosta, Pifer, Stanford, and the Wisco boys. And See's coming on strong.

P.S. Kudos to Sage for running 2 seconds faster after 1 week. He could be well on his way too, even though his PR in the 15 is high 3:30's and probably wouldn't really have a chance at the Olympic Team. It'd still fun to watch the likes of the Sage's and the Rankin's and such gut it out on the turns in the finals.

irun wrote:

I still say watch out for Bumbalough, Acosta, Pifer, Stanford, and the Wisco boys.

Acosta ran a recent 800m race in 1:55ish

In 2008 why are we getting so excited by a 3:38+. It is barely even the Olympic B standard. In top form Webb and Lagat could run this time in practice. A time of 3:36 or under is where things start getting interesting. A 3:38 is a dime a dozen in this day and age. In 1968 it would be a big deal.

we are excited because that 3:38 LOOKED easy for Wheating (hence fast finish). A more even run race could net him 3:35-6. This is a good time for a collegiate, much less a relative newbie like Wheating. His upside is huge. He doesn't have the years and years of pounding like Webb had and still running fast times.

In any case, the Oly Trials 1500m, with Wheating, will be hella interesting.

joe 90 wrote:

In 2008 why are we getting so excited by a 3:38+. It is barely even the Olympic B standard. In top form Webb and Lagat could run this time in practice. A time of 3:36 or under is where things start getting interesting. A 3:38 is a dime a dozen in this day and age. In 1968 it would be a big deal.

Are you kidding? Sure, a 3:38 is pretty common among elite 1500m runners, but how many guys run 3:38 in their THIRD YEAR of track? And did you see that kick? He had plenty in the tank. This kid is loaded with talent and he's someone to keep your eye on.

don't pay attention to the negative idiots around here.

that finish was amazing, and the future looks good for wheating right now.

we're getting excited because nobody has ever heard of this kid before and he is phenominal. We are excited because now we have placed only the steepest progression curve on him and can't wait to see what he comes up with next. This isn't alan webb, steve magness, rupp, lukezic, centrowitz, don sage, hall, solinsky, forys, riley, teg or whoever else running 3:38 their freshmen year. All the boys mentioned were very accomplished in the mile before college. This kid came out of nowhere and the skys the limit for him (we'd at least like to think so).