1) There is not a single person outside of these messageboards who actually cares about Cheserek's age. Since nearly everyone on these boards is a disgruntled individual, it really IS just an assortment of disgruntled individuals who care.
Open your eyes wrote:
You are absolutely correct, Fisher did not outclass everyone his freshman year like Chezerek did. Maybe the fact that Fisher was 18 years old his freshman cross country season and indoor track season (which he redshirted) had something to do with that. When was the last time an eighteen year old male US distance runner dominate the NCAA ranks?
Kenyan freshman seem to be able to. Perhaps they have an unfair advantage?
Chezerek's age has been questioned for years. Not by a few disgruntled individuals but by many who take this sport seriously.
His age discrepancy enabled him to win and set records through high school and college robbing those that were/are of legitimate age.
Stop being a fool. Africans, in many sports, age cheat. Those that are fortunate to come to the USA for school make up for a variety of things by having their birth certificates falsified.
2) You think age is actually relevant here? There are coaches that redshirt their athletes for multiple years, athletes who graduate with eligibility and go on to compete for different programs, and schools like BYU that effectively force their athletes to start later.
Crying about an age "advantage" in college athletics is pitiful, given that for DECADES, the NCAA has demonstrated repeatedly that it doesn't give a crap about age. Rono dominated DI athletics when he was overage. The entire BYU team is effectively overage. Much more recently, Christy Cazzola dominated DIII track while being even older, being in her late 20s. In fact, every sport has overage athletes competing, and NOBODY outside of this forum cares.
3) Are you actually accusing Cheserek of planning to age-cheat while coming here as a high school freshman? If so, he did a horrible job of it, given that he chose an age that was already too old for his grade, and did not participate in a single age-restricted event. Not once did Cheserek try for World Youths, World Juniors, Youth Records, Junior Records, etc.
Rather, he has been a TEAM runner from beginning to end. He has very rarely taken the initiative to actually run for a record of ANY sort. The only one he ever chased intentionally was Gerry Lindgren's Indoor 8:40 2-Mile. We all know that if he made a serious effort, a number of collegiate records could fall, but he spends every track meet doubling or tripling for his team, and has always taken the conservative approach to guarantee his team points.
4) Cheserek and Fisher graduated high school with a set of PRs in which Fisher actually had an advantage. Sub-4 was effectively beyond most of what Cheserek managed to do. However, unlike Fisher, Cheserek went on to crush two Kenyan champions and earn a massive haul of championship victories. If anything, it seems that Cheserek's "age" somehow became an "advantage" only when he entered college.
