Home cookin’

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

EUGENE, Ore. -- Local boys made good to the delight of another sellout crowd at Hayward Field Monday night.

Two Oregon Track Club members and a rising junior at the University of Oregon swept the Olympic places in the men’s 800 meters before a pulsating stadium.

It was the highlight of the first four days of the Olympic trials, and it may wind up as the highlight of the 8-day meet.

Nick Symmonds, a Boise native who was a four-time Division III champion at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., was first, with Andrew Wheating, a Vermonter who runs for the

Ducks, second, and Kansas State grad Christian Smith, third.

‘The crowd was so loud, I couldn’t hear myself breathing, I couldn’t hear anyone next to me, I couldn’t hear feet -- the crowd pushed me through the last 100,’’ Wheating said.

Both Symmonds and Wheating came from far back in the final 200 meters. Smith outdove Khadevis Robinson at the finish line to get third by 6/100ths of a second.

‘I had to go for it, or I would regret it forever,’’ Smith said.

Lopez Lomong, who finished fifth, just 11/100ths from third, filed a protest, which was denied, because he said Robinson grabbed him while falling.

‘I might have,’’ Robinson admitted. ‘I was so lactated I couldn’t see. I was hoping Jesus was out there so I could have grabbed him, too.’’

Both Symmonds and Wheating looked as if they would have to barge their way to the front after lagging behind, as planned, for the first 650 meters. Symmonds slipped through a gap in the middle (‘I used an old hockey move’’), and Wheating went way outside.

‘We went out in 50 seconds, which is fast, and I was worried I wouldn’t have that wallop at the end,’’ Symmonds said. ‘I decided with 150 to go I was going to wait until the last 100 and just flip the switch. I’ve been waiting the last two rounds, holding back, holding back, and I was finally able to let it hang out. It felt so good to burn the last 100 meters.’’

It led Symmonds to a personal best time of 1 minute, 44.10 seconds and helped drag Wheating into second with a personal best 1:45.03.

‘Andrew and I run so similarly,’’ Symmonds said. ‘We were both running our own very smart races in the back. He was waiting for me to move, and I was waiting for him, and we both moved together.’’

Wheating, 20, is unusually large (6 foot, 5 inches) for a half miler. He tried track for the first time as a senior in high school. Barely two years later, he is on the Olympic team.

‘Once I got that transition year from high school to college figured out, things just started to fall into place,’’ he said.

Just what Christian Smith was thinking.

-- Philip Hersh