Louie Yuan wrote:
Andrew Wheating. He was nearly an unknown before getting to Oregon, almost on a whim. Wheating had absolutely no high school history in the 800, but Lananna took him from 1:52.13 as a freshman to 1:48.82 as a sophomore, to 1:47.03 as a junior, to 1:45.69 as a senior. This has to have been one of the more incredible coaching jobs in NCAA history.
A drunk monkey could have gotten Wheating to run that fast, the amount of talent is crazy.
minnesota has quite a deep 800 squad
Louie Yuan wrote:
"I want to know opinions on the best developers of 800m runners. Please don't include the big 3 (Penn St,VA, and UO) Honestly they are good but they bring in talent, thats not what i'm looking for."
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You state that you aren't looking at the big 3 because they bring in talent. OK, if you are looking at coaches who "develop" 800 meter runners, you are missing the boat by not discussing Lananna of Oregon.
Take a look at what he has done with these three for example:
Andrew Wheating. He was nearly an unknown before getting to Oregon, almost on a whim. Wheating had absolutely no high school history in the 800, but Lananna took him from 1:52.13 as a freshman to 1:48.82 as a sophomore, to 1:47.03 as a junior, to 1:45.69 as a senior. This has to have been one of the more incredible coaching jobs in NCAA history.
Travis Thompson. He was another nearly unknown high school 400 meter runner, who started at Lane Community College. Once under Vin Lananna at Oregon, Thompson went from the 1:54 range to last season's junior time of 1:47.60.
Elijah Greer. He was a very good high school 800 meter runner who improved his top time by a full second as a freshman, running 1:46.99 and finishing only behind his teammate at the Pac 10 championships.
Now your missing one of the points that may have not been said but should already be known....the big 3 are already on the list...but Oregon can't take every good 800m runner every single year likewise for VA and Texas and Penn St.... this opens the list for athletes who fly under the radar and are not the elite bunches coaches seek out...
tfgh wrote:
minnesota has quite a deep 800 squad
no
This will get bashed but Tony Sandoval at Cal for the women always do extremely well.
Alysia Johnson did do very well under Sandoval. Of course wasn't she highly regarded coming out of high school?
Right, because MN had 1 guy at 148, 2 guys at 149, another at 150.4 and another at 151 flat- yeah MN is terrible- the other guy mentioned how it would be good to see Wisconsin vs. PSU, but i am pretty sure MN might have something to say about that, plus I personally think Harun (148) as a freshman is one of the most talented in the 800 field, and that includes Foster of PSU, who i think is an incredible talent
Also added D3 Outdoor National Champ Max Hanson this summer. That makes it 2 1:48 guys, 2 1:49 guys, and 1 1:50 guy.
On the east coast I would also throw my hat in on columbia's willy wood. That 4x800 squad at penn a few years back was just epic...and you can't pass on the Georgetown 800m coach...they put together 3 straight wins at Penn including a 7:13 run in 2004.
What about joey woody at Iowa, he's going on his 5th season and has 2 1:48 guys who were 154-155 guys in hs and another guy at 1:49
Dudley - Mississippi State
Before he left, Wilmes at Mizzou. last year alone he took a 154 hs guy and a 152 as a junior and soph respectively to 147 and nationals, and a big 12 champ. Along with what looks like another 152 guy who ran 148 as a soph but did end up leaving. and last year they had 5 guys under 151, and looks like everett was only 156 in HS. and West seems to have had a struggle since HS should be interesting to see how they do at a meet such as drake returning all 4 of their guys who ran on the relay which was in it till the very end, in a come from behind run.
George Watts at The University of Tennessee
Coach Wood of Columbia
redrock wrote:
Dudley - Mississippi State
great joke. He was good at hooking up with mcwilliams when she was an athlete and that is about it.
On the D3 side, Tom Donnelly at Haverford has a lot of success. NYU seems to have a lot of good mid-d guys, too, but I don't know how good their guys were in HS.
Byrnes got his 800 runners ready when it counts. Rucks surprise second in big ten 800 indoors and national qualifier outdoors. Beth qualified in/out the year before and Mellon is a stud. Wisco never had anything better than a group of 1:50.xx guys for the last few years until Byrne came to town.
Big Tenn wrote:
Right, because MN had 1 guy at 148, 2 guys at 149, another at 150.4 and another at 151 flat- yeah MN is terrible- the other guy mentioned how it would be good to see Wisconsin vs. PSU, but i am pretty sure MN might have something to say about that, plus I personally think Harun (148) as a freshman is one of the most talented in the 800 field, and that includes Foster of PSU, who i think is an incredible talent
haha chill out big cat, I never said MN was terrible.
Oh and Wisco has THREE GUYS 1:48 or faster INDOORS including Mellon who trumps your Harun FR last year.. MN is good, but not one of the premier 800 teams.. YET. Plus PSU has a dirty top 3 with Dawson, Foster and Loxsom who also was a better frosh than Harun