Symmonds's career is picking up steam

He turned up at the starting line in Indianapolis for last year's USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships wearing his old Idaho high school singlet from Bishop Kelly with the BK on the front. "You sponsored by the burger place?" someone asked Nick Symmonds.

Who was this guy who was built like some hockey forward? It took all present less than two minutes to find out after Symmonds, fresh out of Willamette University, had it his way, finishing a startling second to Khadevis Robinson in the 800 meters.

"I was more surprised than anybody else," confesses Symmonds, whose time (1:45.83) was a second and a half faster than his previous best. "When I looked up and saw my time, I didn't know what to do. I just ran around hugging everyone."

Symmonds needs no introduction these days. The best runner to come out of a Division 3 school since quarter-miler Andrew Rock (Wisconsin-La Crosse) has been burning up the boards this winter, running a 3:56.72 mile in his indoor debut last month, winning the 800 at the Reebok Boston Indoor Games, and placing second in the mile at the Tyson Invitational.

This afternoon, the 23-year-old Symmonds will be back at the Reggie Lewis Center, gunning for the US indoor title in the 800. That's the next step in what was once an unlikely progression -- a place on the squad for this summer's global outdoor championships in Osaka, Japan, and then for next year's Olympics in Beijing.

"Making a world team is going to be huge," says Symmonds, who needs to get less than half a second faster to meet the "A" standard of 1:45.40. That would be another breakthrough for a former high school hockey captain (he's 5 feet 10 inches, 165 pounds) who morphed into a middle-distance runner by accident.

"Two miles was all I ever ran on a track," Symmonds says. "One day one of my buddies got sick before the distance medley relay and someone said, 'Symmonds can do an 8 . He's a 2-miler. What's two laps to him?' "

So Symmonds blithely went out and split a 1:57, which likely would have been fast enough to win the state meet. "I had no idea," he says. "I just took off sprinting and didn't fade as fast as everybody else."

Symmonds got nibbles from Division 1 programs like Boise State, Northern Arizona, and Dartmouth, but he ended up at Willamette in Salem, Ore., where he was assured his biochemistry studies would take priority over running.

It was a perfect hothouse for a guy from a small state who was just coming into his own. "I was a late bloomer and still had a lot to learn," he says. "If I'd been thrown into a Division 1 program, I might not be running now."

Symmonds ended up winning seven national titles in seven tries in the 800 and 1,500. Then, six weeks after getting his diploma, he went to Indianapolis hoping merely to finish among the top six. Second, behind the world's eighth-ranked half-miler, was fantasy.

"It was a surreal feeling, because I knew I'd made a name for myself," says Symmonds, who soon found himself with an agent and a Nike contract.

"It's crazy. A minute and 45 seconds of work . . ."

Now, he's with the big boys in the fast lane, chasing national titles, planning his European summer schedule, knowing that he has to get faster still. "I don't think 1:43-high is out of the question," Symmonds muses. "If I want to be world-class, I have to be 1:43."

Though his stamina and his sit-and-kick style suit him for the 1,500, his taste runs more to the 800. "Mentally, I have a huge passion for the 8 ," Symmonds says. "I have some doubts in the mile. I love it, but I hate it. If I'm off, it's really rough."

If he wants to make the US team, his better chance is in the 800. Bernard Lagat and Alan Webb are highly likely to grab two of the three places in the 1,500. Outside of Robinson, though, the 800 is wide open, as it usually is.

"I've never understood how we can have 10 of the top 20 400-meter runners in the world, but you go up one event and we're weak," Symmonds says. "It doesn't make sense to me."

Time was when the Americans owned the 800 at the global level. But they haven't won it at the Olympics since Dave Wottle's mad-capped dash in 1972 and haven't made the podium since Johnny Gray's bronze in 1992. At the world outdoor meet, nobody has made the stand (or even a final) since Rich Kenah in 1997.

"We've got to start running world-class times," Symmonds says. "In the 8 , Khadevis is the only guy stepping up. We've got to start making finals."

Symmonds came close enough to Robinson last year to know that he's in the chase, but he understands that he needs more speed and more savvy. "Tactics are huge," he says. "I'm not going to be blowing by people. I can't spot a guy 5 yards. I'll never get it back."

The speed is coming, helped by Symmonds's work with the Oregon Track Club Elite training group, where he knocks heads daily with the likes of Jason Lunn and Adam Steele . What he's been getting this winter is a tutorial on the boards (today's indoor race is only the fourth of his career) and more chances to hear the starter's gun. "After four months without running," he says, "I was just itching to get out there again."

That's why he's entered in two events whose finals are only an hour apart tomorrow, even though he's only planning to run one. "If I get tripped in the 800," Nick Symmonds figures, "I can come back in the mile."

John Powers can be reached at jpowers@globe.com.