Jenks’ Rob Redwine places eighth in 800 meters at national track meet in Idaho

By Doug Eaton

Jenks High School senior Rob Redwine participated in the 2008 Simplot Games February 15 and 16 and finished eighth in the 800 meters among some of the nation’s finest high school track athletes.

The J.R. Simplot Company sponsors the Simplot Games at the Idaho State University Holt Arena in Pocatello, Idaho. The Simplot Games are one of the premier high school indoor track and field events in the country.

Each year, on the third weekend in February, the Simplot Games offers athletes the opportunity to go head-to-head against the finest high school competitors in the United States and Canada.

In the event preliminaries held on Friday afternoon, there were over 100 entrants in the 800 meters. There were ten heats of runners with the top 27 runners advancing to the finals on Saturday. The finals consisted of three heats of nine runners each running against time.

Redwine, who has signed to run at the University of Arkansas, qualified for the finals by winning his preliminary heat with the sixth overall fastest time in the prelims, 2:00.56.

In Saturday’s finals, Redwine finished eighth overall in an impressive time of 1:57.80.

Redwine said he enjoyed the variety of the competition as there were over 1,800 athletes from all over the United States and Canada. In his heat in the finals, there were runners from Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; Boulder, Colorado; Reno, Nevada; Pocatello, Idaho; and Edmonton, Canada among others.  

“It was a lot of fun as I had never been to Idaho before,” Redwine said.

“I was a little disappointed with my finish. I like to go out a little faster than the pace that was going on. I was in fourth place with about 150 meters left and a couple of runners passed me at the finish,” Redwine explained.

Joe Abbott from Reno, Nevada won the event in a time of 1:55.10. Charles White from Denver place second in 1:55.32.