Freshman Andrews beats Wheating for NCAA 800m title

Virginia freshman Robby Andrews upset Oregon Olympian Andrew Wheating to win today's NCAA Division I Indoor Championships 800m title in Fayetteville, Ark.

Andrews, who set the USA junior best for 800m indoors earlier this season (1:48.02), beat Wheating in the final kick to the line by a scant 1/100th of a second, clocking 1:48.39. Andrews joins Kenyan great Paul Ereng as Virginia's only other NCAA indoor 800m champion.

"I was trying to jump him (Wheating) so that he didn’t have time to react; .01 seconds – that'll do it," Andrews told University of Virginia officials after the race.

Andrews graduated from Manalapan High School in New Jersey in 2009. While in high school, he set two American indoor high school records for 800m (1:49.21) and 1000m (2:22.28), and won the high school mile at the Millrose Games.

An admitted "huge fan" of Wheating's, Andrews was clearly excited by his win today.

"This is unbelievable," said Andrews, who turns 19 later this month. "I'm so thankful for this."

By David Monti (c) 2010 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved; Used with permission