Is Solomon Haile really 20 years old?

It absolutely matters if he is 20 or 21, or more specifically, if he is over the stated age for eligibility in H.S. sport. The NCAA has age limits (which are different for foreigners) - 25 for American born, I believe. H.S. also has limits to ensure a somewhat fair competitive environment. I am not 100% sure about this but I think in NY you can be 20 as a H.S. senior if you turn 20 by a certain date...but its late in the year. If I am even in the ballpark, and he is 20 at the time of the Manhattan Inv., he does not qualify to compete at the H.S. level. That's why it matters. For those who are so adamant about this as a non-issue then what is the limit...exactly? 22? 25? 30?

Ethio Guy wrote:

This guy just broke a great course record at the Manhattan Invitational

Pending Age& HS eligibility verification his time of 12;06.61 is fast.

I say he ties Tom Flemings All-Comers Record from 4 Nov 1973(I believe TF was 22) of 12:06.7..............

the rest will have to be sorted out.

wineturtle wrote:Pending Age& HS eligibility verification his time of 12;06.61 is fast.

I say he ties Tom Flemings All-Comers Record from 4 Nov 1973(I believe TF was 22) of 12:06.7..............

the rest will have to be sorted out.

There will be no pending age verification. He has a "valid passport" (quote emphasis) and Montgomery County schools are so politically correct that they won't stand up to fraud. Halle was 20 years old in January of LAST YEAR. He should be 21 years old by now. This is ridiculous.

sorry to link dyestat, but this thread really presents a convincing argument for Halie being over age.

http://www.talk.dyestat.com/showthread.php?t=93133

Sherwood Forest wrote:

There will be no pending age verification. He has a "valid passport" (quote emphasis) and Montgomery County schools are so politically correct that they won't stand up to fraud. Halle was 20 years old in January of LAST YEAR. He should be 21 years old by now. This is ridiculous.

I have no knowledge beyond what is already in this thread and no opinion about it but just thought I would note that the Washington Post reported on his course record this weekend and didn't make any note of his age (or questions about the same)

"Dan Reeks, said that Haile, who arrived from Ethiopia nearly a year ago, has resolved that identity issue."

RESOLVED HIS IDENTITY ISSUE? That sounds like, "phony papers" to me.

revealed138 wrote:

sorry to link dyestat, but this thread really presents a convincing argument for Halie being over age.

http://www.talk.dyestat.com/showthread.php?t=93133

Dunno if you noticed, but everything in that thread was copied from this thread. Even says so down at the bottom.

Couldn't they just cut him in half and count the rings to find out how old he is?

Somebody please call this kid out...what if he wins footlocker...as basically a college Junior. WTF??? Or does he not run footlocker out of fear of being exposed? Will he run NTN?

Solomon Haile -

http://ny.milesplit.us/files/ny/haile2.jpg

Semunguse Solomon -

http://www.runwashington.com/images/features/rotary08semunguse.JPG

Haile has already acknowledged they are the same.

nuff said.

Looks like the same ugly dude to me.

Now, could he have lied to enhance his age in order to win prize money at road races? Most races don't give much (if any) prize money to high school age kids, do they?

He wasn't winning age group prizes, he was winning overall prizes. At least one of the races he won had a $500 prize for the champ; nobody seems to know if he took it or not.

Also, no road races in my vicinity ever have it in the rules that HS students can not accept prize money, at least none that I am aware of. I had to turn down a few small cash prizes in HS and college, but all were there for me to take if I wanted them. Dunno if that is the same story in the VA/MD area, but I don't see why it wouldn't be.

#99

I needed to check with the NCAA on accepting awards in road races because my HS daughter was winning awards that had significant ($70+) value like shoes, running outfits, gift certificates, and didn't know if she could accept them without losing future NCAA eligibility.

While I haven't read the rules on this, here is what I recall being told by NCAA officials some years ago.

(1) You can't accept any cash awards, no matter how small, without losing NCAA eligibility. Unclear if gift certificates for $XX are considered cash equivalents.

(2) As far as merchandise awards ago, you can accept awards of reasonable value (but "reasonable" was not further defined) but not expensive merchandise like a $500 gold watch.

(3) I never asked about returning an award that my daughter should not have accepted (since she hadn't done that), but I suspect one could return cash awards up to a point, and expensive merchandise awards as well. I'd base that on how the NCAA treated Rupp and the foreign tennis players a few years back.

So it looks like Solomon will be able to compete in college, but will have to give back some prize money he won (probably not that much).

Clearly, Haile has lost his credibility in the running community already, so now that he can never run another HS race and be taken seriously (and be taken seriously) when is his school district/AD/coach gonna start feeling some heat?

People on LetsRun and Dyestat can and have provided very convincing evidence that Haile is in fact 20+, but when are the people who can do something about getting to the bottom of this going to get word and do some investigating?

Two problems here:

1) "Progressive" Montgomery County should recognize it is actually setting some fairly damaging precedent here, no doubt due to their urge for political correctness. But if you permit this young man to compete well over the age limit, it will be difficult to stop similar activities in the future. And while having an overage runner offends all kinds of notions of fair play - really important in high school - it likely doesn't create a safety or health issue. But start letting 20 year olds play football - especially in the smaller school divisions where men of real size can do some damage, and well, the problems can become outsized.

2) Age matters - and someone will get to the bottom of this eventually. And while this young man is a good runner, virtually college coaches will view a 21 year old much differently than an 18 year old, and query just how successful his attempt to garner a scholarship will be. I don't wish him ill, but in the end it does not serve him or the community well.