Wow how can BYU's team be legit?

BYU and even Alabama remind me of how Caster Semenya entered into the womens races even though she was half man and was easily able to win. Her advantage was having balls, their advantage is being 25. Either way, sure seems unfair to the other competitors who don't resort to controversial half cheating methods for success. And don't give me any shit about mission trips, cause many NCAA runners (BYU or not) are much older cause their foreign or simply took time off to train. Didn't Christian Goy of UCONN?? win the NCAA indoor mile about 10 years ago at like age 26? Sure seems fair doesn't it.

1stTimeMarathoner wrote:

It doesn't change my curiousity about how BYU kids get so much faster after 2 years off. I took 2 years off, did NOT gain 25 pounds, was nutritious, and I'm still not at the point where I was 3 years ago. Granted I'm 31, but I'm also running more then I ever have. Wondering what secret there is to being out for 2 years and still coming back better then ever.

They have a great coach, genuis.

And they don't hit 13:45 immediately after returning, it usually takes a couple of years to get back to that sort of fitness. Guys like Josh McAdams and Rohat probably redshirted an entire year after returning just to get back to the point where they can train hard enough to PR.

tist4567 wrote:

BYU and even Alabama remind me of how Caster Semenya entered into the womens races even though she was half man and was easily able to win. Her advantage was having balls, their advantage is being 25. Either way, sure seems unfair to the other competitors who don't resort to controversial half cheating methods for success. And don't give me any shit about mission trips, cause many NCAA runners (BYU or not) are much older cause their foreign or simply took time off to train. Didn't Christian Goy of UCONN?? win the NCAA indoor mile about 10 years ago at like age 26? Sure seems fair doesn't it.

Your ability to prove any point at all is gone when you keep using false information. BYUs advantage is 25? Have you read the thread yet? Because they don't have any 25 year olds. They have two 24 year olds in the top 5, one 20 year old, a 21 year old and a 22 year old. Their average age is 22.2.

Now let's look at Alabama's top 5

Tyson David- Senior, 22

Moses Kiptoo- SOPH!!! 23

Fred Samoei- Junior, 23

Julius Bor- Junior, 23

Andrew Kirwa- Junior, 24

add that up, do the division and we get exactly 23 years old for their top 5. That's older than BYUs and BYUs 24 year olds are Seniors, not Juniors like Kirwa! Or sophomores at 23 like Kiptoo. Plus they never took 2 years off of training. Sounds like they have quite the advantage if you ask me.

BYU haters 0, Everyone else 1

How can you compare polygamy loving LDS folks to guys coming here from an impoverished country like Kenya or wherever? There is no comparison...these boys don't get a free pass because they choose to buy into some "religion" that is on par with Scientology.

For what its worth, two future BYU distance athletes were on mission in a community very near my home a few years back. They trained very consistently, and had social lives. Furthermore, they competed occasionally in local road races.

The above is purely observational, It may well be the case that a mormom mission, done right, does not leave much time for running, but lets cut the BS. Not everybody does it like the guy who posted on the first page. Many of the varsity athletes do not.

By way of analogy, I had a couple muslim athletes on my college team. If they had abided strictly by the rules of ramadan, they would have struggled greatly during parts of cross country season. So, they didn't abide strictly by the rules, because athletics were a personal priority for them. The point is, "being mormon" these days does not necessarily mean "doing mormon mission exactly according to the rules" any more than "being catholic" means going to church every sunday.

In short, the mission definitely can create an unfair advantage. It definitely DOES NOT create an automatic disadvantage, as the mormon apologists bizarrely assert. Whether it does create an advantage or not in every case is up for debate.

^^^^

yeah that's true. let's not assume that all mormon missions are in 3rd world countries. I see them everyday in my home town. And I find it very hard to believe that they all are restricted. It doesn't matter what "most" missionaries do with their time. I'd bet that the runners (the serious d1 athletes) are exceptions. While they may not take advantage totally of the 2 years and train train train, I find it hard to believe that they come back totally out of shape either.

but with that being said, BYU follows the rules. Obviously the NCAA sees an advantage in being older because they do in fact have an age limit for D1 sports (not for d2, d3). They just happen to draw the arbitrary line at a different place than many posters on this board. They aren't breaking any rules and don't deserve the criticism in my opinion. Leave them alone.

I'm calling you out and saying BS. There aren't future BYU distance runners on missions right now that are training. If they trained consistently and had social regular social lives they would have likely been sent home after not too long. I'm sure all the ones on the team now came back out of shape nowhere near capable of matching their PRs or even running within a minute of their 5k PRs before a couple months after returning

A respectable athlete does not care about age.

A respectable athlete does not care about how big the school they are competing against is (high schools mainly).

A respectable athlete does not care about how and what the competitors did to get where they are, only what happens during the race.

If you actually still believe that there is some moral wrong in people putting their own lives on hold for two years, and coming back and doing something that they love, then lodge your formal complaint with the NCAA or whoever you want to bitch to, SHUT UP, and start training harder, because no one cares what you think, or what you say. People care about what you do.

You are not telling the truth , its a shame you have to resort to lying to get the point you want.

what is up with the mormon religoun anyway. how come they have so many wives, and how can an actual religoun only be like 150 years old? Sure they do some good stuff, but it is really weird. I fully support all the good they do though so I am not hating on them I just think it is really strange. That shit with the older runners is a little unfair though.

lokkalokka wrote:

what is up with the mormon religoun anyway. how come they have so many wives, and how can an actual religoun only be like 150 years old? Sure they do some good stuff, but it is really weird. I fully support all the good they do though so I am not hating on them I just think it is really strange. That shit with the older runners is a little unfair though.

Mormon's only have 1 wife.

Interesting post. The top producer in my office is a BYU alum and ex-missionary; he's a really nice guy.

NCAA is not an age-specific org. D1 volleyball players, gymnasts, and other athletes compete past age 22 for many schools. Many are foreign transplants.

McBride wrote:

A respectable athlete does not care about age.

On the other hand, a respectable athlete does care about a sense of fair play... something that you are obviously lacking.

McBride wrote:

A respectable athlete does not care about how and what the competitors did to get where they are, only what happens during the race.

Is that right? So if I think that Marion Jones had an unfair advantage by utilizing PEDs, I'm not a "respectable athlete?"

laced up wrote:

NCAA is not an age-specific org.

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. In the D-I arena there are specific NCAA rules in place regarding age limitations to prohibit athletes/teams from having an unfair advantage in terms of physical maturity. If you don't like those rules, you can attend a D-II school.

The bottom line... wrote:

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. In the D-I arena there are specific NCAA rules in place regarding age limitations to prohibit athletes/teams from having an unfair advantage in terms of physical maturity. If you don't like those rules, you can attend a D-II school.

And the NCAA also doesn't think that Mormon's gain an unfair advantage by taking 2 years off to serve a mission even if they are 2 years older. They must think the lack of training for 2 years more than makes up for being 2 years older. So judging by the same logic you shouldn't feel Mormon's have an unfair advantage because the NCAA says so.

...is that the either exemption should be eliminated, or those athletes/teams should be competing in D-II.

Why? The NCAA doesn't think they gain an unfair advantage so why punish them?

No, you're not. You bitch and whine because they're better than you. Too bad. They are playing by the rules. It is fair play. And even if they do get knocked out for being able to do this, you still won't make it to nationals.

And if you really want to be cool. Take a two year religious crusade to change the NCAA rules on this matter.