Weber’s confidence high in NCAA 800
A lot of heart and soul goes into making an elite 800-meter runner, but now Ohio State’s Rachel Weber has added a top layer of proven analytics.
That explains her confidence going into an NCAA semifinal today in Eugene, Oregon. Her coach, Brice Allen, has watched the senior, a Dublin Coffman graduate who was third in the high school state meet in 2013, become one of the top talents in the country by building a base that sets up her speed advantage in the end.
“We’re very confident in her race plan,” Allen said. “With that being said, her ability to get the race started, to come through the quarter (mile) clean without getting any kind of congestion, and then lifting from 400 to 500 meters, I have a lot of confidence in her.
“She’s very strong right now. So I am excited for her to run her race. The front two sides of it dictate whether she advances, and I am confident she will. She’s got the closing speed in the final 300 meters to make it home.”
Weber has seen her motoring prowess improve from, say, being a solid Cadillac to a finetuned Ferrari.
“My coach uses that same analogy,” the electrical engineering major said. “The confidence piece has been huge. Focusing on the analytics aspect of the running rather than the emotional 'How do you feel about this?’ — it’s focusing on, ‘OK, you know you can run 4:21 for 1,500 meters, 54-low for a 400, which means you can go 2:02, 2:03 in the 800.’ The numbers are there.”
They are there because the work has been done, Weber said. She turned the two laps in an Ohio State-record 2:02.67 in the East Regional to qualify for the NCAAs for the first time. She will have to place in the top two in her semifinal or record one of two faster overall times after that to move on to the finals Saturday.
Another individual competing for the OSU women today will be 400-meter specialist Maggie Barrie, a junior from Worthington Kilbourne. She will have a busy day because she also is part of the OSU 1,600 relay team that includes Beatrice Hannan, Karrington Winters and Aaliyah Barnes, a group that won the Big Ten title and placed third in the East Regional.
Men’s 1,600 relay team advances
At the men’s meet, Ohio State’s 1,600 relay team advance to today’s final by finishing second in its preliminary heat with a time of 3:03.59. On the team are DeShawn Marshall, Nick Gray, James Clark and Duan Asenota.
Nicholas Demaline placed fifth in the shot put finals with a put of 63 feet- inch.
The 400 relay team placed fourth in its semifinal heat and failed to advance. Also failing to advance were Marshall in the 200 with a fourth-place finish and and Donovan Robertson in the 110 hurdles with a seventh-place finish.