By Morgan Sudduth
As Olympian and former Oregon runner Andrew Wheating came around the Bowerman curve Friday night, the Hayward crowd of 4,284 burst into cheers and loud applause. Wheating was holding on to a lead in the men’s 800 meters at the Oregon Twilight Meet, and it looked like it might be his race.
But in the homestretch, Wheating lost his gap to Jesse Garn of the New York/New Jersey Track Club. Garn swooped by Wheating just before the finish to win in 1 minute, 49.31 seconds, just ahead of Wheating, who finished second in 1:49.37. The two hugged it out and both left the track smiling.
It had been two years since Wheating last ran the 800 due to his string of injuries. Wheating’s career has been plagued with injury since 2012, and he has struggled to get back to the height of his career.
Now healthy for the first time in five years, he had decided to make Friday event a true race and go out after it.
With a strong start, Wheating tucked in behind the pacer, but as the pacer stepped off at 400 meters, he caught some wind.
“I was like OK, got some wind and I’m gigantic, so I’m gonna go ahead and jog for a little bit,” Wheating said. “When Jesse came up on me, I was like, ‘Wake back up’ and started going again. I had to reteach myself how to run that race.”
Friday’s race is just the beginning to Wheating’s return to the 800. Now training without a coach and figuring out what he’s good at, Wheating feels he can use the 800 to get the speed going again and eventually cross back over into doing the 1,500.
Garn, who is in his first year running for his new club and just recently signed a contract with Hoka, was competing in his first Oregon Twilight Meet.
Things have been going well for Garn this year. He has only lost one race, and in that he finished second.
On his fifth appearance at Hayward tonight, Garn got the chance to compete against one of his long-time idols, Wheating, and beat him.
“This was really sweet,” Garn said. “This was the first time I ever got to toe the line with him.”
Garn and his new coach plan to put him through more consistent and healthy training in hopes to get Garn to his ultimate goal.
“We’re gonna try to ride this out, so hopefully you know, (Olympic” trials in 2020,” said Garn. “That’s gonna be the long-term goal for now.”
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