Army's WCAP runners

Torrence, Mercardo, and Arciniaga talk about it at about 47:00 in their commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLAJF8r3DIQ

The enlist. They sign a contract. They go to boot camp. They train and have to hit benchmarks to stay in the program. They have to prove Olympic potential.

Not true

Paul Katam has never come close to the standards in over two years in program

Good for them. Glad to have them. Much better than those that sit on their ass expecting a hanout. By the way the Army has had similar programs in the past.

Igy

And that's why he may not be in the program in the near future. He did run in the Marathon for the Olympic Trials but yes, maybe not much longer in the program.

Katam was allowed in based on a second place finish in the NCAA 10,000m. It was not guaranteed and the coach had to make a case for him and get approval to add him to the program.

How I am I supposed to feel about this team?

EZ-PASS to citizenship or honorable? Will I see Chelimo in in battle if things go haywire? How do they have the time to train if they're soldiers? How soon until Ches is on that team? Did they go through boot camp?

Ok, I see boot camp question was answered. I guess.

why are you guys so upset about this, nearly all Kenya's runners are nominally cops or soldiers or prison guards

Since we only allow shoe companies (and the military) to sponsor runners (Well anyone can sponsor them, but who wants to pay big bucks when a singlet can't even bear your company name if you don't make mostly clothing (ie powerbar, clifbar, etc.), who else are they to turn to?

And two years later he is still in program and his best marathon time ever is 2:26 which is a 11 minutes above the WCAP standard.

He barely qualified for the trials in a half which is not even a distance used by WCAP as a qualifying standard.

Since the mission of WCAP is specifically to develop nationally ranked soldier-athletes to compete and succeed in the Olympics (read for yourself on the Army WCAP site) and the next Olympics is 2020, deployment orders should be in the mail to insure Army resources are being directed to the soldier side of soldier-athlete.

Wasn't Kenny Moore on the Army Track Team back in the day? Do people hold that against him?

zfghj wrote:

Can someone shed some light on the program. Are the runners actually in the U.S. Army? Do they go to boot camp? How is it set up? Are there any American born runners in the program. I have never heard of the WCAP before now and would really like to know how it works?

Read my thread on Army Regulations and WCAP. Or find your answers here: AR 215-1

Alan

Is this a Nike employee?So the Republicans on here hate blacks more than they love the military. Got it.

Makes a Coach Look Good wrote:

And two years later he is still in program and his best marathon time ever is 2:26 which is a 11 minutes above the WCAP standard.

He barely qualified for the trials in a half which is not even a distance used by WCAP as a qualifying standard.

Since the mission of WCAP is specifically to develop nationally ranked soldier-athletes to compete and succeed in the Olympics (read for yourself on the Army WCAP site) and the next Olympics is 2020, deployment orders should be in the mail to insure Army resources are being directed to the soldier side of soldier-athlete.

Been around a long time.

Ryan Kirkpatrick for instance ran the 5000 OT while in the WCAP program after graduating from West Point.

Katam was recruited to the program after he already completed basic training. He was part of the MAVNI program like all of these guys. That is what got them citizenship, not WCAP. Please stop speaking from a point of ignorance.

Teddy Mitchell was in WCAP.

Joseph Chirlee got WCAP on TV leading the trials marathon and 10k in 2012.

Billy mills was in marines version of wcap. You ok with that?

Just wondering where all those haters are now that Paul Chelimo has won the silver medal for the USA. I was expecting posts like, "Kenya won Silver in the 5000m!" Kerron Clement, another immigrant won gold in the 400m hurdles yesterday. The fact is immigrants do not take their new status(as American citizens) lightly. They work their hearts out. They truly make America Great Again, if you ask me!

WCAP wins for America wrote:

Just wondering where all those haters are now that Paul Chelimo has won the silver medal for the USA. I was expecting posts like, "Kenya won Silver in the 5000m!" Kerron Clement, another immigrant won gold in the 400m hurdles yesterday. The fact is immigrants do not take their new status(as American citizens) lightly. They work their hearts out. They truly make America Great Again, if you ask me!

I never understood why people got upset in the first place. The US has a process for naturalization for foreigners who wish to become citizens. Once naturalized, they are every bit as much a US citizen as a natural born citizen. That's one of the things that makes this country great.