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.