Garcia and Andrews Wrap Up Competition at USA Championships
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EUGENE, Ore. – Redshirt senior All-American Stephanie Garcia and sophomore NCAA Champion Robby Andrews wrapped up their seasons today in the 2011 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field. Garcia finished fourth in the finals of the 3000m steeplechase with a time of 9:51.57, while Andrews took eighth in the finals of the 800m in 1:51.68.
Garcia’s final collegiate race ended in heartbreaking fashion today. Running with the lead pack throughout the majority of the race, the NCAA runner-up challenged for the lead with about 600 meters to go and remained in contention for the title with 200 meters remaining. Running with 2011 NCAA Champion, Colorado’s Emma Coburn, and Oregon TC Elite’s Bridget Franek, the trio looked to be on their way to represent Team USA at the World Championships, but Garcia fell at the final water barrier, before recovering to earn a fourth-place finish.
Coburn claimed the 2011 USA National Championship in 9:44.11, while Franek earned runner-up honors in 9:44.90. Delilah DiCrescenzo (NJ-NY Track Club/Puma) rounds out the American’s that will head to Daegu, South Korea to compete for Team USA, as she crossed third in 9:46.31.
Garcia concludes her career as the best steeplechaser in program history. The all-time Atlantic Coast Conference and UVa school record holder, Garcia became the highest individual finisher on the track for Virginia’s women’s program this year, as she finished runner-up in the event with a time of 9:47.29. The program’s first four-time NCAA qualifier in the steeplechase, she is a two-time All-American and a two-time ACC Champion in the event. Her winning time of 9:55.10 from this year’s conference meet broke the all-time ACC meet record and Duke’s Wallace Wade Facility record.
In the men’s 800m finals, NCAA runner-up Charles Jock (UC Irvine) pushed the pace throughout the race, before Oregon TC Elite’s Nick Symmonds made his move around the final curve and held on to win his fourth-straight USA Championship in 1:44.71. Nike’s Khadevis Robinson finished runner-up in 1:44.49, while Jock took third in 1:44.67. Andrews, making his first appearance in the USA Championships, crossed eighth with a time of 1:51.68.
Andrews, one of the 10 semifinalists for the Bowerman award, wrapped up the year with his second NCAA Championship in the 800m, edging Jock at the tape to win the outdoor title with a time of 1:44.71. That time equaled the best collegiate time of the year and was one-hundredth of a second off from the NCAA meet record set by Florida’s Mark Everett in 1990. He was also a member of Virginia’s 4x800m relay team that won its second-straight Penn Relays Championship of America title. Andrews was named the Penn Relays Men’s College Athlete of the Meet for Relay Events after anchoring UVa to the second-fastest time in the 117-year history of the Relays and a new school record (7:12.15).