josephat boit

Boit goes to Central Methodist which is NAIA. He's a tiny little fella who won 2002 Drake Relays 5k with a sick fast time. You'll only see him if your team goes to piddily little meets in the midwest, with the exception of Drake obviously.

I looked at CMC's schedule and the Piddily little meets include Central Missouri State (D2 ranked), OK State, and Chille Pepper for cross country. Iowa State, U of Missouri-Columbia, Kansas Relays, Drake Relays, and Nebraska for track. Maybe their budget doesn't allow them to go to the big meets.

yeah those are pretty goood meets, this is the same guy who beat bob kennedy right?

yeah he beat Kennedy in oslo, 13.17. I think is the 3rd fastest time in the world by a junior. He has also ran something like 5.00~5.02 for 2000 meters.

I know him well. I have stayed and trained with him in Kenya and he has been to Norway for three months three years in a row. An incredible talent, only 17 years old he ran 7.45 3000 meters and 13.17 at Bislett in 2001 age 18. Now, this kid is and looks his age also. I know all about the Kenyan age thing, but this one is not a 28 year old..My former coach was his manager from the age of 13 and saw his development. Pretty smart kid also.

Marius Bakken

http://www.mariusbakken.com/pictures/kenya/4.htm

picture Josephat&myself, Eldoret winter 2001

http://www.mariusbakken.com/pictures/norway/01/mai/4.htm

Josephat nr. 2 from the right

So this guy's good enough to beat BK and train with Marius Bakken and he's running NAIA in Podunk, Missouri? How does that happen?

That is exactly what I told him...

But he wanted an education more than a pro-career. Sometimes some Kenyans think differently. But with some more training he could easily have gone sub 13, likely sub 12 55. He did 13.17 off 50-70 mile weeks (unheard of for WC runners). He had the same coach as Sammy Kipketer in his early days, and the same kind of extreme talent.

Marius Bakken

SÃ¥ Marius,

Har du planer om å nærme deg (eller krype under) 13 blank neste sommer? Eller er denne sesongen mer et steg mot langsiktige mål?

Med en Svenøy i dårlig slag, og Vebjørn uten planer om ?comeback? har vi ikke mye å se frem til i Norsk Friidrett. Du er vårt håp i Athen!

Viking!

Javisst! lucka til!

yeah this guy won our home meet (cmsu) in like 1926 for 4 miles, he said he was out of shape. he beat dmitri drozdov in that race (d1 steeple champ at iowa state in 97?, also russian olympian in 92 or 96) so yeah he's pretty talented.

Marius,

The thing is, there are many universities where one can get a better education in the States than Central Methodist College. CMC may be a great place for certain individuals, but I have a hard time seeing how a hypertalented Kenyan might be one of them. Even if he's ineligible for NCAA Division I competition, there are plenty of other schools he could have gone to. I just wonder how he ended up in scenic Fayette, Mo.

Maybe because Boit is not an amateur athlete.

Has he won money?

Has he been sponsored by a shoe company?

He's run 13:17 and competed against Bob Kennedy. Did his mom and dad sell a few cows to send him to Europe?

Of course, you must still be an amateur to compete in the NAIA, as well. They just don't have a Ghestapo or FBI branch to investigate like the saintly NCAA does.

Cough it up Boit, are you just hiding at CMU because an NCAA school, or NAIA school with an honest coach for that matter, wouldn't let you in?

For someone that knows everything it seems like you would know how to spell gestapo.

Actually I just realized while out on a run that this is it: Division II schools now can take professional athletes. I'm not kidding. The NCAA passed this a couple of years ago. If a kid goes pro out of high school or its international equivalent, and two years later decides he wants to compete in college, he can go to a Division II school. He has to sit out a year and then will have two years of eligibility left. Basically the formula is that you sit a year and lose a year of eligibility for every year you compete professionally.

Division I schools saw how ridiculous this was and deep-sixed it, but it caught on in D-II and D-III. Now, did Mr. Boit sit out last year? If he was someplace else, someone in that conference ought to pitch a fit.

i don't have any idea about this professional rule ye speak of in DII and DIII, but I'm pretty sure that i saw this dude drop a pretty disgusting 9:05 steeple at truman open last spring w/o even trying. I swear to god. he had no form to speak of over the barriers, and yet I'll bet his heart-rate was hardly elevated any more than it would have been on a tempo run. that dude's solid.

[quote]mcpuddlemaker wrote:

.....I'm pretty sure that i saw this dude drop a pretty disgusting 9:05 steeple at truman open last spring w/o even trying. .....

[quote]

Having known Josphat for a couple of years, I can tell you that despite limited experience, he can run much faster in the steeple. He ran a competitive 2000m steeple two years ago in Europe as a junior.

Quit bitching about Boit being a pro-athlete in Europe. You would take the money if you could too. We dont even know if he was profesional anyway or not. At least he is a legit runner coming over here and not one that says he runs 1:51 and cant break 2 in the 800, or says he runs 29 and change in the 10k and cant break 26:45 for the 8k. Boit brings flare to the states. Im a Boit fan and glad hes here.

and one more thing...at least hes not old as shit...hes lower 20's

Boit may be a quality person and is definetaley a great runner... but should that excuse him from the rules?