Andrew Wheating is just living in the moment.
He knows that he’s not expected to make the team and is using that to stay relaxed heading into the Olympic Trials, starting with the men’s 800-meter quarterfinals at 8:20 p.m. tonight.
“I’m not nervous at all,” he said. “I’m totally excited. I can’t wait to get out here and race.”
Wheating, who just started running in 2006 as a senior in high school, entered this year with personal bests of 1:50.17 in the 800m and 3:45.17 in the 1,500m. Good, but still well off even the Olympic Trials ‘B’ qualifying standards. Certainly nowhere near anybody’s Olympic team radar.
In April and May, however, that changed. Starting with the Oregon Relays on April 26, Wheating put together a four-week stretch that surprised the Track Town faithful and track fans across the country.
At the Relays, he became the 30th Duck (and first Vermonter) to break four minutes in the mile, moving to 11th all-time at Oregon with a time of 3:58.16, ahead of such luminaries as Bill McChesney Jr., Matt Centrowitz and Paul Geis.
The next week, at the Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif., he moved into the top 10 at Oregon in the 800m, beating a strong field, including three Oregon Track Club Elite runners, to win in 1:47.82.
Returning to Eugene to run the 1,500m at the Oregon Twilight, Wheating upstaged a visit from Presidential candidate Barack Obama, running the fastest time by a Duck since Joaquim Cruz and Dub Myers 24 years ago (3:38.60), winning yet again.
His fourth personal best in four weeks was at the Pacific-10 Championships where he defeated 2007 World Championships qualifier Duane Solomon in the fifth-best time in school history, 1:46.83.
He continued his undefeated outdoor season through two rounds of the West Region Championships and the first two rounds of the NCAA Championships.
In the NCAA final, Wheating came off the final curve in third place behind Solomon and Texas’ Jacob Hernandez. He passed Solomon with about 25 meters to go, but came up just short of Hernandez, who held him off with a lunge at the tape.
Hernandez finished in 1:45.31, with Wheating just behind at 1:45.32, the third-best time in Oregon history, behind Cruz’s 1:41.77 and Wade Bell’s mark of 1:45.17 from 1967, and fifth-best in Pac-10 history.
“Jacob’s a great racer,” Wheating said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better competitor, but it was incredibly close and it was … ugh, a hundredth of a second is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, but I couldn’t have lost to a better guy, so I’m happy with it.
“You can’t be too mad with a 1:45.32, a second-and-a-half PR. You can’t be mad at all.”
The competition takes a step up now, as he will be going against previous U.S. champions Khadevis Robinson and Nick Symmonds of OTC Elite, both of whom have PRs under 1:45, including Robinson’s best of 1:43.68.
Despite it all, Wheating still refuses to get nervous.
“I’ve kinda got to know Nick and I’m not so scared of him anymore,” he said. “He’s actually kind of a gentle giant, but I’m really excited. I think it’ll be a highlight of my season. I’m just more excited to get out there and race them and not so much worried about how it’s gonna go.”
He also knows that with the caliber of runners in the field, it’s likely to take yet another PR to make the Olympic team.
“It’s without a doubt probably going to go out hard and fast and I think if Khadevis and Nick are out in front and pushing it, it’ll probably be a 1:44 race,” he said. “I’m always up for a new challenge and I think 1:44 is not too far off; it’s definitely a possibility and I’m excited to see if it can be a reality.”
In addition to the 800m, Wheating is also entered in the 1,500m. He said he is “for sure” running the 800m and that it’s a “distinct possibility” that he’ll run the 1,500m.
Whatever happens on the track in the next week and a half, Wheating is keeping things in perspective.
“I’m 20 years old. I’m shooting for a shot at the Olympic team,” he said. “I mean, four years from now, they say 24 is about a peaking age and I’ll get another shot hopefully then. Now it’s just a bonus, so I’m just looking to come out and give it my best, give it my all and see how it goes. I mean, four years later would be kind of more pressure, but now I’m just looking to have fun.”
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