2020 Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame Inductee: 2006 4×800 boys relay team

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2020 and 2021 classes are being inducted into the Quincy Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame together this year. The 4×800 relay team will be inducted on Saturday, Nov. 27 before QHS’s boys basketball game.)

A record-setting time at the Class AA state track and field meet in 2006 normally would have been the highlight of the season Quincy High School boys track team’s 4×800 relay team of senior Andrew Crane, senior Isaiah Robbins, sophomore Marc Amarillas and junior Trevon Runnels. It turns out there was a bigger race to come.

By finishing fifth at the state meet in a school-record time of 7 minutes, 45.15 seconds, the Blue Devils’ quartet qualified to participate in the Nike Outdoor Nationals against the most fleet of foot runners from across the nation.

From June 15-17, 2006, at North Carolina A&T’s Irwin Belk Track in Greensboro, N.C., the Blue Devils were a part of the biggest high school track meet of the season. They posted a time of 7:53.06 to finish 10th nationally, one spot ahead of East St. Louis, which had edged the Blue Devils by two seconds at the state meet.

The 4×800 relay team is one of six relay teams in school history to medal at the state meet. Quincy has enjoyed three top-10 finishes in the 4×800 relay, all three coming during Robbins’ four varsity seasons with him running a leg on each one.