Robin Martin wins All-American in 800

Despite the honor, the Penn junior failed to better his school-record time. Penn junior Robin Martin was named an All-American for his performance in the 800-meter run at the NCAA Championships. Yet Martin, who was surprised by the announcement, was disappointed by his fourth-place finish in his heat. "I had a lot of opportunities to take the race, and I didn't take any of them. I don't know what I was thinking," Martin said. "I tried to get by as easy as I could, and at that level you can't play games. I learned a lesson the hard way." Despite his regrets, Martin was named an All-American based on his time at NCAAs, which were held June 5-7 in Indianapolis. He finished his heat in one minute, 49.32 seconds, and although only the top two finishers advanced from each heat, his time was good for 14th-place overall and for the seventh-fastest 800-meter time by an American at the meet. "Consider that there are almost 300 Division I schools, every one's got at least two or three half-milers. He finished 14th in the country. He had a great year," Penn men's track coach Charlie Powell said. Martin is Penn's first track and field athlete to be honored with this status since John Taylor was named All-American in the javelin in 1995. While Martin's time was slower than his school record 1:47.81, set at the 1997 Penn Relays and slower than what he had wanted to run. "He ran a good first 500 or 600 meters. He could have made a move with 300 [meters] to go or 200 [meters] to go. He was a little tentative making his move, and I think it cost him. By the time he made his move, two guys ahead had, and at that level you're not going to walk a lot of guys down. They're all very good," Powell said. Adding to the difficulty of judging the pace of the race was that Martin was given the ninth lane to run in, which left him in the front of his heat for the first lap because of the stagger. He prefers to run in a position where he can see the other runners and then chase them down. In addition, he entered the race nursing a tight hip flexor that bothered him at the IC4A Championships two weeks before Nationals. The injury also limited his training in the past few weeks. "I just made a lot of mental errors, it wasn't anything physical," Martin said. "My training wasn't the way I wanted it to go, but I definitely don't want to use that as an excuse. I didn't feel it during the race." Powell added: "Not being able to train the way you wanted to has to do something to your confidence more than anything, and maybe a little something to your body." Despite his disappointing time at the end of the year, Martin's 800-meter times improved overall throughout the year. He appears to have a bright future as he looks to another shot at the national 800-meter title. "Next year I'll come back and I'll be stronger, God willing. I'll be a lot more aggressive -- that's what it came down to," Martin said. Of the eight All-American 800-meter runners, four -- Bryan Woodward of Georgetown, Isaac Turner of Southern California, Darrin Strong of Baylor, and Jeremy Stallings of Florida -- have graduated, and two others -- Khadevis Robinson of Texas Christian and David Krummenacker of Georgia Tech -- will be seniors. "Those are all the guys who are as good as me, and when you're out there with all those guys, you have to make an aggressive move because they're all good. You can't just go out there and run," Martin said. "Definitely, it was a learning experience for me. I was one of the younger people in the race." Martin's experience will be helpful in his remaining two years of collegiate competition, but he expects to be tested nevertheless. Brown freshman Trinity Gray also received All-American status in the 800-meter run. Martin views the pairing as a rivalry, yet doesn't feel that there is any overlying animosity between the two. He has defeated Gray in their only two head-to-head meetings. Martin's future strategy includes increasing his weekly mileage, a measure that Penn's newest All-American hopes will strengthen him and allow for a more aggressive and ultimately fulfilling All-American finish at next year's NCAA Championships.

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