A Twilight of surprises
UO's Andrew Wheating beats the professionals and Sen.
Barack Obama makes an unannounced visit to Eugene's Hayward
Field
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Ken Goe, The Oregonian Staff
EUGENE -- Andrew Wheating rode a sizzling kick to a dramatic
victory in the 1,500 meters Friday in an Oregon Twilight
track and field meet that was interrupted briefly by an
appearance by Sen. Barack Obama.
Lagging on the back straight, Wheating shifted gears as the
crowd of 5,124 gave an audible gasp, and he flew to victory
in a time of 3 minutes, 38.60 seconds.
Wheating's time bettered the automatic qualifying
standard for the U.S. Olympic Trials, is the best 1,500 run
by an American this year and moves the 6-foot-5 sophomore to
No. 6 on the all-time Oregon list, behind only Joaquim Cruz,
Matt Centrowitz, Dub Myers, Steve Prefontaine and Arne
Kvalheim.
He beat a field of professional runners with those last,
frantic 200 meters, clocked unofficially in 26.1 seconds.
"There is nothing better than blowing by everybody and
having the crowd behind you," said Wheating, who is new
to the feeling.
He didn't run high school track, and still is figuring
out race strategy.
When he looked up at Oregon's videoscreen scoreboard as
the time was flashed, he said: "I was dumbfounded. I
was totally shocked. Now I'm going to the trials as a
sophomore. I mean, three years ago I was kicking a soccer
ball around. Now I'm going to be on TV trying out for
the Olympic team."
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2008 Oregon Twilight
