It's not just BYU with older athletes

said a guy who goes to byu - nice but they can do their mission AFTER college and not game

the system, have 26yo run against 18-19yo and claim victories. If LDS had ethics, they

would compete on a level playing field.

eliud kipsang is gonna be 36 years old and running for bama

Who cares? A 22 year old is physically mature. Who cares if they're 22 or 26? A 26 year old who has been knocking on doors in Korea for two years is likely physically behind a 22 year old who has been training for four years.

Not an issue.

cougs wrote:

said a guy who goes to byu - nice but they can do their mission AFTER college and not game

the system, have 26yo run against 18-19yo and claim victories. If LDS had ethics, they

would compete on a level playing field.

Going on a mission after graduation is not the same thing. Even though they would now have a degree they would be delaying their working careers. The average age for marriage for Mormons is 23 years old so many would be taking a 2 year break from a serious relationship.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

[quote] The average age for marriage for Mormons is 23 years old so many would be taking a 2 year break from a serious relationship.

Is the average age for a Mormon man 23 when he marries his 1st wife or 5th wife? What is the average number of wives a Mormon man has at one time?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

cougs wrote:

said a guy who goes to byu - nice but they can do their mission AFTER college and not game

the system, have 26yo run against 18-19yo and claim victories. If LDS had ethics, they

would compete on a level playing field.

Going on a mission after graduation is not the same thing. Even though they would now have a degree they would be delaying their working careers.

Wait. So according to mormon math, they delay their working career if they go on a mission after byu, but it doesn't delay their career by doing a mission while at byu which delays their graduation. No matter how you try to rationalize it, they delay their career by the EXACT same amount. Now, let's take the example of Mantz. He graduated high school a year older than normal. He took two year of rest and recovery by not doing a lot of training while on his mission. He had another year of redshirt, a year of medical redshirt, and will have a Covid year. He'll be 27 before he leaves byu. Doesn't seem like he is too worried about delaying his working career. Everybody knows that these "kids" are straight up gaming the system in order to have a massive age advantage. Is this an ego thing? Do they need to beat up on teenagers in order to raise their self-esteem? Very sketchy ethical standards being promoted at that college.

Take your missions after college if you want to compete, or you are an age cheat. Simple as that.

What a stupid troll comment from one who doesn't understand rules - must be a cry baby still sucking on a bottle. This is from the NCAA rules:

"Eligibility Timeline

Division I five-year clock: If you play at a Division I school, you have five-calendar years in which to play four seasons of competition. Your five-year clock starts when you enroll as a full-time student at any college. Thereafter, your clock continues, even if you spend an academic year in residence as a result of transferring; decide to redshirt, if you do not attend school or even if you go part time during your college career."

Doesn't matter how old you are when you enroll, but will have 5 years after enrollment.

Recruit more old Kenyans to NCAA Division I schools and bring them over to wipe up on those who can't handle being tough and don't have a thick skin.

Nobody actually cares how old an NCAA athlete is. The people making a big deal about BYU athletes age are just finding something to hate them for. If they actually cared, they would get upset about the foreign athletes who are way older than other college athletes too. For example, Alabama's roster right now has Eliud Kipsang who is listed as being born in 1996, but is only a freshman. So he's nearly 25 already as a freshman... What about Vincent Kiprop? He was born in 1995 and is currently 26 and still competing.

What about athletes like Cheserek? It seems like he was a lot older than he claimed to be. He was one of the greatest high schooler runners of all time and most would argue that he was the best NCAA distance athlete ever. But after graduating, he ran a pretty fast mile and never ran anything comparable ever again. Almost sounds like he's a lot older and past his peak than what his "official" age says.

Realistically, it doesn't matter how old a college athlete is. College competition shouldn't be reserved for a certain age group.

As for the people asking why BYU athletes can't go on a mission after they graduate, most of the time they can't. By the time they graduate, most of them are married. Even if they aren't, no employer wants to hire somebody who got a degree and hasn't had a single job in the 2 years since. For high level athletes like Conner Mantz, nobody will offer a pro contract to somebody that plans on taking 2 years off of competing and serious training. Waiting to go on a mission until after college is just a really bad idea for these guys.

But again, it doesn't matter because college competition isn't just a certain age group.

If people go on missions to game the system, then I would agree that this is unethical. If they go on missions for other reasons - which I believe most do - they are not breaking an NCAA rules and there is nothing unethical about playing by the rules.

I can only speak from my experience. If my intent was to "game the system" I would not have put myself on a timeline to compete against two future Olympic medalists my senior year in 2005. The "easy way" would have been to compete my senior year in 2002 or 2003, depending if I red-shirted, where no-one broke 3:39 in season. 8 guys went under 3:39 in 2005.

I had the fastest US Junior Time in 1999 and made the NCAA 1500 final as an 18 year old and then went on a mission after my freshman year. I wasn't trying to gain an advantage by sitting out two years and losing my momentum. It was an personal & intentional decision to hang up the spikes, with no guarantee that I would pick back where I left off.

I hate these blanket statements that missions are a ploy or scheme to gain an advantage as if there is only one purpose in life - to have success in NCAA competition. It's simply not accurate and was never a consideration in my decision. Looking back at the other freshmen that took two years off - back in 1999, most of us were nervous about how and if we'd come back. We had 4 freshmen on that team in our top 7 in XC that were foot-locker 1st or 2nd team All-Americans and probably would have done better than our eventual 5th place finish in 04, had we stayed home and played it safe.

Like I said - if people try and cheat the system to gain an advantage - that is wrong. If they play by the rules and follow their beliefs, that's their prerogative.

Two years older than others at the most with a break in training. Don't compare a BYU senior that went on a mission with a freshman that didn't. BYU guys have the same amount of eligibility as others and no more and they have a break in the eligibility usually resulting in a lost year when they are trying to get back into shape.

Bryan, how could you let that Weber State guy beat you? Weber State?

Faster time that year = me

Higher place in the final = Joel - who is a stud and all-around great guy!

Weber St is a great school and great program. My mother and father in law went there. I got nothin against them :-)

Really dug Jayordan's comments. Still don't get why people are torqued off that they, themselves, went straight out of high school. Why didn't all the non-spiritual heathens wait 2 years? And what's so special about 2 years? Why don't all the anti-BYU crowd run their first season after getting a degree? Who told you to do it a month after high school ended? Eyestone didn't talk you into that. No LDS clergy told you to. Ask any of them and they'd be fine with you starting your eligibility clock at 30. I think what offends many is that like other high altitude schools, they consistently finish in front of all of you from sea level. Difference between them and other perennial distance powerhouses is that Eyestone and gang do it with a complete lack of East African genetics on the team. NAU can not make this claim. No ringers coming in who were winning races back in Eldoret. No one who had done anything on the National stage already, much less Internationally ends up on their squad.

A bunch of American nobodies cleaning up.... What they're doing in Provo is really impressive!

Vincent Kiprop was a Soph at Missouri Southern in 2017. He just raced in the SEC championship today.

So who the hell knows. At least the byu kids are doing helpful stuff on mission. A bit different then being like 24/5 when showing up and getting 8 years of eligibility

polygamous jigamous wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

[quote] The average age for marriage for Mormons is 23 years old so many would be taking a 2 year break from a serious relationship.

Is the average age for a Mormon man 23 when he marries his 1st wife or 5th wife? What is the average number of wives a Mormon man has at one time?

Actually members of the LDS church are strongly encouraged to not divorce and have only one spouse throughout their entire lives.

Lmao

What is this "mission"? I thought the US completely packed up and left Afghanistan last week?