Andrews wins national title at 800 meters

Robby Andrews will take some well-deserved time off for the next week or so and he will not think about running.

Andrews, who graduated from Manalapan High School on June 23, earned the time off by winning his second national championship of the 2008-09 school year at the Nike Outdoor Nationals held in Greensboro, N.C.

On June 20, Andrews out-kicked the year's best 800-meter field in 1:50.05 to add the outdoor crown to the indoor 800 National Scholastic Indoor Championship he won in New York City in a national record 1:49.21.

Despite the presence of a number of runnerswho had run 1:50 or better, the Nike Outdoor Nationals race turned into a tactical affair, which was fine with Andrews.

The first 400 meters was covered in 56.8 — Andrews was ready for a 53-second opening lap — meaning the runner with the fastest finish was going to prevail. Andrews loved that idea.

"It's what I like to do," he said.

When a race goes tactical, positioning is everything and Andrews was right where he needed to be, out of traffic in second place.

"I was right on his (leader Ryan Lynn from Park Ridge. Ill) shoulder," Andrews said. "I was getting ready to strike when (New Mexico's Curtis) Beach took off. I covered it right away. All around the curve I was biding my time. With 100 meters to go, I just burst."

Once he was in full flight no one was catching Andrews. No one has caught him for three years and they weren't about to catch him in the final race of his scholastic career. He ran the final 400 in 53.19, while runnerup Beach, the nation's best high school decathlete, covered the final lap in 53.82.

It turned out that Andrews needed his allout dash to the finish line. The 56.8 opening 400 meters not only played into his hands, but into Nick Kaiser's hands as well.

Running in an unseeded section, Kaiser, from Bedford, Conn., had posted a time of 1:50.47. If the runners in the seeded section waited too long to pick up the pace, Kaiser could have won the title. As it turned out, Kaiser won the silver medal ahead of Beach's time of 1:50.75 in the seeded heat.

Andrews' Nike Outdoor Nationals win came on the heels of his state record 4:03.49 for the mile set in Portland, Ore., on June 13. That race took its toll after a long season and Andrews wondered if he had one more race left in him.

Two things motivated him. The first was the fact that he finished second in the mile to Mac Fleet of San Diego. Fleet was running the 800 in Greensboro and Andrews wanted another shot at him, as well as the chance to go out a winner in his final race.

Second was his "magic workout" done on the Wednesday before the race. This series of progressive sprints starting at 100 meters and progressing every 10 meters until 200, told him that although his legs were tired, he did have one more race in them. He turned in his best time ever for this track workout.

The workout did not lie as Andrews turned in one of his most impressive late-race sprints to win the Nike Outdoor Nationals crown. Fleet finished sixth in 1:51.58).

The two 800-meter titles won by Andrews could not have been more different. Indoors it was a race against the clock, while outdoors, he noted, "the field was stacked" making his victory in Greensboro that much more impressive.

It has been a long and incredible school year for Andrews, starting in the fall with cross country where he won his first state title (NJSIAA Group IV) as a harrier.

"It's been a crazy trip," he said of his year. "From not getting everything I wanted in cross country to the highs of indoor and outdoor track. I know I've been blessed to come out on top in my last race. I didn't want my last high school race to be a second-place finish."

Andrews will soon begin to prepare for the next chapter of his record-breaking career: running for the University of Virginia.