Robbie Andrews in 800 at WM Colonial Relays

800m race is 2:30 p.m. tomorrow (Friday)

Distance events at night.

So is Michael Christmas

Looks like Robbie Andrews is still in top form as he takes it to a decent field at the Colonial Relays:

http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2011/W&M11/ColonialRelays11/Results/

Pretty psyched to see how Robby does this year and next. Is it assumed he's got a good chance of making the Olympic team in the 8?

Top 10 finish by Michael Christmas!

Assuming all of the the 1500m guys like Manzano, Torrence, Webb, Wheating and Lomong stay away from the 800, Robbie will definitely have a shot. The 800 is with out a doubt the most wide open event on the track right now; Symmonds is our only solid world class 800m runner. (Sad, but true!) This is strange as well becasue when drop down just one event to the 400m, the U.S. had about 20 of the top 30 times in the world last year.

No disrespect to Duane Solomon and KD, but I see the young guys like Robbie, Jock, Primm and Loxsom as all having an equal shot at making the WC team. I expect those young guys to drop down into the 1:44s come June.

I don't think your doubt in Solomon or KD could be construed as disrespectful. KD is well past his prime and Solomon hasn't really done much to indicate that he is any more of a threat than any of those other guys you mentioned.

i kinda like running wrote:

I don't think your doubt in Solomon or KD could be construed as disrespectful. KD is well past his prime and Solomon hasn't really done much to indicate that he is any more of a threat than any of those other guys you mentioned.

Perhaps Solomon and KD would have more experience in how to manage the rounds. Btw, I known Robbie and Cas gets most of the conversation, but I see Charles Jock as having tremendous upside.

What's not to like. I would guess Vig had Robby run unattached to see what condition he's in and if it makes sense to run outdoor's or redshirt. A sub 1:50 is solid for the first race of the year. Will have to wait and see if Robby suits up in a UVA uniform and declare he's running outdoors.

Coming off an injury, I guess it's only exciting if Robby ran the time Vig felt warranted Robby to run outdoors this spring. I son't beleive anyone would expect Robby to run close to his PR after 9 months off.

He hasn't run an 800 since last july, he hasn't raced period since then. Winning a race is a good start, especially in pretty windy and rainy conditions from what I heard. For a kid who's looking to be running his best around late June, you can hardly criticize him for shaking the rust off in a low key meet. What did Webb run that one race a little while ago in Europe? 1:52?

Bottom line is that after not doing any competitive running for 9 months other than rabbiting for Lagat's AR, he won his heat with the fastest time in the meet.

lllll wrote:

Barely sub 1:50 is not exciting for a 1:45 kid. It is not necessarily discouraging as it is early and who knows if he tapered or whatever -- but hardly something to get excited about. If Wariner opens up with a 46 flat, would you find that exciting?

You frequent this site and still have no idea how a runner progresses through their season?

Entered at 1:50, so looks like he met expectations. Andrews was the only guy in the 800m to run faster than his entry time (outside of the final section: #9). Says two things: a good for him, a bad tale of entry times. Looking at it further, nobody in the 1500m met their entry time either. Good job coaches!

Coaches entering "optimistic" seed times? Just can't imagine that.

Here are the results:

Section 1

1 Andrews, Robby Unattached 1:50.00 1:49.58

2 Hill, Brian SR Harvard 1:49.65 1:49.96

3 Cowsette, Dontave JR Pittsburgh 1:49.84 1:50.49

4 McLaughlin, Nick SR Virginia Tech 1:49.67 1:51.00

5 Roller, Lance Unattached 1:49.00 1:51.05

6 Golden, Tyler JR George Mason 1:50.48 1:51.76

7 Christmas, Michael SR Umbc 1:50.33 1:51.90

8 Ellison, Samuel FR Villanova 1:50.40 1:52.01

Forgot to add full rseults link from above:

http://www.halfmiletiming.com/Datafiles/Spring2011/W&M11/ColonialRelays11/Results/

I wouldn't put too much stock in the times. I was at the meet and they were not the most ideal conditions. Weather channel said 48 degrees and 20mph wind in the afternoon when I checked, which was fairly close to the 800m start time. The wind died down significantly for the evening distance races. Check the 100m prelim times. 40 teams, 90% of them D1 and I think only 1 or 2 guys broke 11.00 in the 100m.

Andrews looked good. He moved up throughout the race and closed pretty well. Went through 400m in :54 and change, if I remember correctly. Pretty evenly paced.

Nice to see him debut outdoors.