Sports Central

Wheating makes the Olympic team to Beijing

Andrew Wheating, a 20-year-old from Norwich, Vermont, has made the Olympic team to Beijing in the 800 meter dash. Wheating ran from sixth place to second over the final 100 meters, setting a new personal best of 1:45.03 in the process. He crossed the line with a look of profound shock on his face, to the thunderous cheering of the Hayward Field crowd.

"They really pushed me through that last 100...all I heard was the crowd," said Wheating, an sophomore at the University of Oregon. "I believe Oregon was 1-2-3 because of this crowd."

Trials champion Nick Symmonds (1:44.10) and third-placer Christian Smith (1:45.47) are also Eugene residents, and will represent the U.S. in Beijing. All three men set personal bests in the race.

Symmonds had a few things to say about Wheating.

"I don't think it would have been quite as loud if (Andrew) wasn't doing what he was doing. He's such an amazing, untapped talent," he said. "It just shows that America has amazing talent. We've got a young group of guys going out to take everyone on."

Wheating ran mostly cross country in high school, and when he started track he thought he would be a long-distance runner.

"I was convinced I was a 5k runner, but my high school coach saw that I could keep a steady pace through repeat quarter(mile)s," he said. "Then I tried the mile and then he saw that I could do some speed work, so we tried the 800 and it worked out."

It worked out very well. The entire season, Wheating has relied on his kick to win, but the pre-race predictions (including my own) worried that he would rely too much on that kick. He proved himself equal to the task, swinging around third, fourth and fifth place and into lane four with about 50 meters to go. At that point, he appeared to pause, then he shifted gears and put nearly a half second on third place.

Third place was Christian Smith, who outleaned Khadevis Robinson for the last spot on the team. Smith suffered a burst appendix a little more than a year ago, struggled to recover and was not even favored to make the Trials final. He was the next-to-last qualifier for the Trials, 29th out of 30 entrants.

"Nobody knows how low I got except for my coach and my girlfriend, walking around the hospital, hunched over for three months," he said. "I just can't imagine being here, 15, 16 months later."

The favorite Robinson was philosophical about his fourth place showing.

"I tried to fight for it, but I had nothing left. I had a great ride and now its time to get back to the drawing board and go from there," he said. "You know, when God closes one door he opens another. I have to take my hat off to those guys, they ran really well and deserve to be on the team."

Just three months ago, Wheating was an unknown in the track world. In seven more weeks he will step on the track at the Olympic Games and compete with the best runners in the world.

"It hasn't really hit me yet," Wheating said. "Give me a couple more minutes and I'll probably shoot up out of this chair and scream 'I made it!'"

-Rob Mitchell

Olympic Trials Finals

The waiting is almost over. In track and field the waiting is what gets you - four years of waiting for this moment, the Olympic Trials final. Andrew Wheating in lane three - looks very nervous but when his name is announced the crowd cheers loud and a big smile breaks out on his face.

They are off and Wheating goes to the back; he is running side by side with Nick Symmonds, one of the favorites. Khadevis Robinson, the favorite and reigning outdoor champion in the 800, tows the field through 400m in 50.33 seconds - fast. At his side is the 2004 Trials champion, Jonathon Johnson, challenging for the lead. Wheating is still in last, to the outside of Symmonds; the entire field of 8 men is bunched together. Along the far turn they are jostling for position; Wheating swings wide, he's into sixth place; Symmonds sneaks through on the inside and around. Symmonds is moving fast up to the front; Wheating in fifth coming off the final turn, this is it, he's going wide - everyone is going wide, Wheating is moving - here's the kick, Symmonds in first and Wheating is passing into second - he is going to make it, Symmonds wins, Wheating is a clear second - he is on the TEAM! He's on the TEAM! Christian Smith, an Oregon Track Club member, has outleaned the favorite Khadevis Robinson for the third spot for Beijing. The results:

 1 Nicholas Symmonds            OTC/Nike               1:44.10
  2 Andrew Wheating              Oregon                 1:45.03
  3 Christian Smith              OTC/Nike               1:45.47
  4 Khadevis Robinson            Nike                   1:45.53
  5 Lopez Lomong                 Nike                   1:45.58
  6 Duane Solomon                U S C                  1:45.78
  7 Jebreh Harris                Reebok                 1:46.21
  8 Jonathan Johnson             Reebok                 1:48.11

 

800m finals tonight - and there's more than one Vermonter at the Trials

Wheating is no longer a dark horse; letsrun.com picked him as a top-3 finisher, if only because they want to see the crowd reaction if he makes the team.
A poster to this blog also pointed out that there are two more Vermonters at the Trials, in the womens' heptathlon and the womens hammer. My apologies and I'll bring you more on that soon. Live updates tonight!

-Rob Mitchell

Olympic Trials 800 meter semifinal

Andrew Wheating has gotten one step closer to becoming the first Vermonter to make an Olympic track team, placing second in his semifinal heat and advancing to the finals of the 800 meters. Wheating ran 1:46.23, beaten only by reigning national champion and 2004 Olympian Khadevis Robinson. He's got to place in the top three on Monday night, and he'll be on the team to Beijing.

Apparently, Wheating has some Vermonters there to cheer him on at the Olympic Trials. The online running videographers flotrack.com met the noisy pack from Wheating's home state and asked him if he heard them. He sure did, and the question drew a big smile.

Wheating moves on; Great women's 10k

Vermonter Andrew Wheating finished first in his heat of the men's 800 meters last night to qualify for the semifinals of the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene, Ore. The 20-year-old ran 1:47.85 and felt good. The semis are today at 7:40 p.m. Eastern Time. Top four in each semifinal advance to the final, which is Monday.

"I felt great," he said. "I just went out for another run."

He's also something of a hometown favorite - the Trials are being held at Hayward Field, home of the University of Oregon, where Wheating is a sophomore. When he took the track for his heat, they gave him a rousing ovation.

"I thought that Symmonds(Nick Symmonds, a Eugene resident) was the favorite, but when the crowd erupted for me I was feeling great," he said.

The outstanding race of the night was the women's 10k final. For anyone who stayed up to watch (it started at about 12:25 a.m., this race was an example of all that is inspirational about the Trials. The two favorites, Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher (American Record-holder and World Champs bronze medalist, respectively) broke away from the field about 4000 meters into the race. Dogging their heels was a relative unknown, Amy Begley. Begley had a personal best of 31:59; to make the Olympic Team she needed to run 31:45 - that's the Olympic A standard. The trio hit 5k at about 16:10 and things weren't looking good for Begley. That meant she had to run about 15:34 for the second 5k of the race - and her best ever time at 5k was 15:24.
The Arkansas graduate sensed the time was slipping away with about 8 laps remaining, when she looked over into the stands and saw a concerned look on her husband's face. The look said to her: 'If you don't go now, you are in trouble,' she said after the race. "If I don't go now, I'm going to regret this the rest of my life."
She took the lead, and pushed the pace for five laps, getting passed with three to go but holding on and sprinting home in 31:43 - 1.6 seconds within the Olympic A standard. Flanagan went on to win, Goucher was second, but Begley collapsed to the track. A few seconds later her time flashed on the screen and she celebrated - an Olympian, with no regrets.

Wheating set to go in Eugene

The Olympic Trials begin tonight, and the start lists are up for Andrew Wheating's event, the 800 meters. There are three heats of ten runners each - a bit crowded for an 800 meters - and Wheating is in heat three. The heats can be very interesting. Usually at a meet of this level, the heats separate the people who showed up because they qualified, and the people who are there to compete. Wheating, based on his record this season, is there to compete for a slot on the Olympic team. Tonight, he is simply aiming for top four in his heat - it's top four and the next four fastest times that advance to the semifinals tomorrow. He does have some competition - nemesis Jacob Hernandez of Texas, who bested him by .01 seconds at NCAAs, and former World Indoor Champion David Krummenacker are in his heat.
A few more things about this event: In the first heat are Khadevis Robinson, the big dog of the 800 for the last few years, and Golden Coachman, who runs for Mississippi State and is an Iraq veteran. Also keep an eye on Lopez Lomong, a naturalized American who escaped ethnic violence in the Sudan to settle in the U.S. more than a decade ago. In the second heat is Nick Symmonds, who has vied with Robinson for top dog status the last two years, but never quite gotten to the top, and Jebreh Harris, a top performer in the last few U.S. Championships.
The 800 goes off at 8:20 p.m. Oregon time - meaning 11:20 p.m local, for those of you who are going to stay up late to try to catch the Trials on USA Network(from midnight to 1 a.m. Eastern time). I doubt they'll show more than a recap of the 800s, but I'm hoping they will show a good chunk of the women's 10k. The final is tonight, gun goes off at 12:20 a.m. Eastern, and it should be a barn-burner. Shalane Flanagan, who set the American Record in May (30:34.49 for 10k), and Kara Goucher, who won the bronze medal in Osaka last year at the World Championships, are the favorites and neither one likes to give an inch. For long-distance racing, you don't get any better. Add in a bunch of quality competitors who may challenge for the top two slots but will definitely be in a fierce battle for the top three, and I'm hoping the network will choose to feature this event.

-Rob Mitchell

A few late night thoughts

While finishing up the Wednesday sports pages there were a few stray thoughts left over. They got shoved over until my return to the office today, and may be a little incomplete.

I haven't seen the Mountaineers play, and it may be a while before I do, but based on what I am reading, hearing and seeing in the way of results, this very well could be the best team the Montpelier team has had in its six years of existence, and with two consecutive NECBL championships already on the wall, that is saying something. It's all about the pitching, and the Mountaineers best seems to be very, very good indeed with plenty of help in the late innings. The offense will catch up.

The pitching observation goes for the Red Sox as well. I don't worry much about losing 2-1 games to Arizona. I would worry a lot about the Sox losing 9-8 games to Arizona, but that has happened rarely this season. Offensively, the Red Sox have not yet put their best team on the field all at one time, and they are still in first place in the best division in baseball. The nay-saying Red Sox fans will point to this loss, that loss or Julio Lugo, but the team is still the favorite to win the World Series again, and that's with a raft of injuries. Don't worry until David Ortiz can't come back at all this year, and even then, don't worry all that much.

The Vermont Ravens appear to be on track for another solid season, and on track to begin to build a solid fan base in Barre. The high level of the pre-season foes may lead to an uneven win-loss record for the exhibition games, but so long as the tough foes don't cause an inordinate number of injuries, it's all good.

More to come in the next couple of days.

Pete Hartt

 

Welcome home Halifax

This just in, the Halifax Rainmen have been accepted into the Premier Basketball League. By all accounts a well run franchise the Rainmen join Vermont, Manchester and Quebec in moving from the American Basketball Association to the PBL. Another two PBL teams were formed in current ABA markets of Montreal and Atlanta.

It's not about the basketball folks. If the PBL is to succeed in the way that the ABA is not, then the key to adding franchises is to attract quality franchises whether or not they are competitive on the court. Eventually, quality franchises - those with stable ownership, a good fan base and good venues to play in - will develop into quality teams.

Ironically, the very thing that brought Alex Wolff into the ABA and Vermont with the Frost Heaves is the thing that is causing the ABA to struggle, the low buy-in fee. A strong industrial league team can almost find enough sponsorship to buy in, and in some cases it appears that they have. The price is low which has allowed the league to grow huge, for a time. But that commitment has matched the price tag and that is a problem.

Of course, a high buy in league faces other problems, notably the problem of how much money can a team make playing in a small facility in a small market. The ABA is growing again, with a new president who knows what should be done. Ideally, both the PBL and the ABA will succeed.

Finally, a brief on-line poll. I played golf earlier today (Monday) and got to thinking about the courses around Central Vermont that I have played. For years and years I've felt that the 4th hole at Northfield was the most difficult hole in the area, and certainly the toughest par 3. Uphill, with a pointed slope that can send a short ball in either direction (but not onto the green), with trees in the back and a saddle-shaped landing area. Part of the problem is that I don't hit the ball very far and have always had to hit too much club to land anything on top.

The second hole at Barre is in the running as well.

But maybe I'm missing something, which leads me to my question: What is the hardest hole in the area? Perhaps, for talented golfers, the answer is different, but I would love to hear others thoughts. In fact, what I would like to do is get together a "Nasty Nine" or "Enraging Eighteen" and the go out and play them some weekend.

Let me know what you think.

Pete Hartt

       

Another new PBL team

I've been meaning to do something with this bit of PBL information, so here it is.
The former CBA team, the Atlanta Krunk, has joined the PBL as the Atlanta Groove.
Here's the link to the announcement on the PBL's Web site, www.pblproball.com.
I had heard some CBA teams might be coming to the PBL, so here's at least one.

--Anna Grearson