Late kick costs Martin chance at NCAA 800 title

Though Penn junior Robin Martin did not win his signature race, his third-place finish still made him an All-American. All season, he has run away with top honors. The biggest honor of all, however, was just out of his grasp last week as Robin Martin -- the only Penn track team member to qualify to the NCAA Championships -- finished third in the 800 meters at the championships at SUNY-Buffalo. Last Wednesday, three heats were run to determine which eight college superstars would run in Friday's championship heat. The eight finalists comprised the top two runners in each heat plus the two next best times overall. Martin ran against the familiar face of Brown's Trinity Gray in his trial heat. Gray started the race with a quick pace, so all times in the heat were fast. In fact, four of the eight finalists came from Martin's heat. Martin finished second, giving him an automatic bid for the finals heat. Going into the championship race, Martin's plan was to make his move with 300 meters left. "I knew it would go out fast," Martin said. "I knew guys like [David] Krummenacker and Gray would take it out fast. I just tried to stay relaxed, and then make a kick." Unfortunately for Martin, everything did not go as planned. As anticipated, Martin was near the back of the pack with 300 meters left. Just as he was ready to charge to the front, however, UCLA's Jess Strutzel cut him off in the second lane. Martin was forced to slow down to avoid crashing into Strutzel. "I think if he made his move when he wanted, he would have won the race," Penn coach Charlie Powell said. By the time Martin was able to retry his move to the front of the pack, the runners were heading into the final turns. Martin didn't want to make the move during the turns, so he waited for the home stretch. With 90 meters left, Martin was in seventh. Then, he tried to pass as many runners as possible on the outside. He blew by four runners en route to a third place finish, crossing the line in 1:47.10, slightly over one second behind the winner, Texas Christian's Khadevis Robinson. "I don't know if I would have done anything differently if given the chance," Martin said. "I wanted to win and third place is still third place, but I'll take it." Although Martin didn't win the NCAA title, his third place finish earned him an All-American distinction. The top six athletes in each event are dubbed All-Americans. Even though Martin had hoped to finish first, there is difficulty in even making All-American status. There are 384 Division I track programs in the country and each team has two or three 800 runners. Therefore, roughly 1000 half-milers compete in Division I. Since one must be among the six fastest runners to be an All-American, only the top 0.6% of the nation's half-milers earn the distinction. "I think it was a great performance," Powell said. "The 800 is probably one of the toughest races to run in." This sentiment applies, not only to this race, but to Martin's entire season. He won race after race, set record after record -- and culminated the season with an All-American performance at the NCAAs.