Athlete of the Year

Robby Andrews amazes all with record setting senior season

By Christopher Hunt

He was sprawled on the floor, broken and exhausted. His limp body and glassy eyes were the only things that reassured us that he felt pain. That he was actually human.

Because it started to seem like there was an engine in his chest. It started to look like he had his legs on a remote control, equip with a turbo boost button and all. But it was this moment that brought back reality -- his one moment of weakness, the moment that he didn’t look tireless, didn’t look unconquerable.

Manalpan’s Robby Andrews cemented his name into the history books in a way that no one could erase when he became the first high school boy to ever break 1 minute, 50 seconds indoors winning the 800 meters at the National Scholastic Indoor Championships in 1:49.21. He dropped Michael Granville’s 1995 record of 1:50.55 set in the Carrier Dome at Syracuse University.

It wasn’t just that he completed this historic run. It’s that he did it in a way that made it so much more amazing than the fact that no one had ever run that fast before. It’s that he turned a mediocre pace – 56.2 second for the first 400 meters -- into a mind-numbing statistic. He did the same thing a month earlier when he broke the national record in the 1,000 at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in 2:22.28 which snatched a mark set by Alan Webb in 2000.

Funny thing is, in an interview after Andrews used his riveting finishing kick to bury the field in the mile at the Millrose Games he said he could have ended his season right there and been happy. “It’s the greatest feeling I’ve ever had before,” he said after the race. “I’ve never felt like this before.”

“This is my nationals right here,” he went on. “If I peak after, I peak it.”

Then he set two national records and each time it was the greatest feeling he’s ever felt.

Now that’s a “feel good story.”

Andrews felt so good that he showed up at the Eastern States Championships with intentions of leaving with one of the most heralded records in the books. He came looking to chop down Alan Webb’s national record in the mile of 3:59.86 – a time Webb ran in 2001 that was labeled the greatest moment the Armory’s 100-year history. That day Webb finished fourth in a professional race. Andrews intended to break four minutes running from the front like it was a solo time trial.

He finished in 4:12.31, which will forever remain Andrews’ indoor high school personal best. He was never challenged in the race and never actually challenged the record himself. Andrews said it just wasn’t in his legs that day. But the fact that he had it in his mind that he would break four minutes and carry home Alan Webb’s mile record told that his confidence was about as indestructible as his body.

Start line to finish line, Andrews’ only challenger this season turned out to be this unrelenting, unforgiving kid with a vicious kick named Robby Andrews who also happened to wear a Manalpan Braves jersey.

He is the Armory Athlete of the Season.

1000m National Record Video - 800m National Record Video

all photos by Mary DiBiase Blaich, Tim Fulton, Don Rich, and Pat Monteferat

The Armory All Star Team