Athlete of the Week: Andrew Carey - Men’s Track

This past weekend the Hopkins Track team traveled across the country to Palo Alto, Calif. for the Stanford Invitational.  Senior Andrew Carey led the team, breaking the school record, which he previously held, in the 800 meter run with a time of 1:50.95. Carey edged out the rest of his heat filled with Division I athletes and ultimately finished 14th in the field of 81. Based on his performance this past weekend, The News-Letter awarded Carey the honor of Athlete of the Week. Carey was kind enough to take time out of his schedule to answer a few questions about his race this weekend as well as the rest of the season.

The News-Letter: Being a senior, you have been around the program for quite a while and must have picked a few things up from those who graduated before you. What have you been doing differently than you have in the past?

Andrew Carey: Obviously there have been a lot of people who have helped me get to this point. I was in a different training group than most of the seniors when I was new, so physically speaking they didn’t do much. But they really helped me fit on the team, which at least at that point was more important to me. I still keep in touch with a lot of them, be it about school, running, career advice and so many other aspects of life. 

Probably the biggest change in my training has been the strength training I’ve been doing. I owe a lot of credit to my friend and training partner Tyler Saunders, a former college runner working at the medical campus, for getting me to do that. I also found out that I needed to eat a ton in order to recover from the higher intensity stuff we do, so I literally eat all the time now. 

In addition, I put in a ton of mileage over the summer (80 miles per week), which is a lot for an 800/1500 [meter] runner.

N-L:  This past weekend you competed at the Stanford Invitational. How did the temperature and California weather affect your performance?

AC:  Well, it’s no Baltimore, but Palo Alto is a pretty nice place. More importantly, the meet is super competitive, so there are a lot of people to run with. That being said, it was tremendously helpful to go out there and have people to push me.

N-L: At the Stanford Invitational, you ran the 800 instead of the 8K, which is what you ran in the fall cross country season. What are the biggest differences in the preparations and the approach to the race?

AC: Compared to an 8K, the 800 feels so easy. In an 800, you have to get out hard and not be afraid to make moves. In an 8K, you can ease into the race a little bit. In the 800, you have to be ready to go when you step on the line. It’s a different mentality entirely, I guess.

As for training, we do quite a bit more speed stuff for the 800. I do a lot of 400s and 600s at mile pace to make sure I’m strong. At the end of the season, when we are peaking, we’ll do more speed-oriented drills.

N-L: Your time of 1:50.95 this past weekend is currently the fastest in the nation in Division III Track. What does this mean to you and your expectations for the rest of the season?

AC: The goal all along was to win outdoor Division III nationals. So this doesn’t change my goals per se, but it definitely gives me a good amount of confidence. Judging from the race, I have plenty of time to take off, so I’m confident I can get a lot faster.

N-L:  This is your senior year and there are many freshmen, such as Andrew Bartnett, who also won Centennial Conference Athlete of the Week. It is clear many of these young guys have the chance to do big things this year. Do you take it upon yourself to help the younger athletes adjust to collegiate competition?

AC: Yeah, I definitely take it upon myself to help younger guys out. Running, even though it’s pretty simple, can be a pretty brutal sport. A lot of people think that if you just work hard that things will work themselves out — and this often isn’t the case. I’ll chime in occasionally as to what I think people’s training should be, but I mainly just try to keep people in good spirits, since running can be so frustrating. I try to be a model of success, I guess, but I recognize that different things work for different people.

Carey and the rest of the track team will continue their successful season at their only home meet of the year on April 12 at the Hopkins/Loyola Invitational.