Story of Edward Cheserek from NJ

"Edward didn’t start running competitively until the eighth grade, when he made his school team. He went on to win all the local school races for runners 19 and under at the Kenyan Junior Nationals Championships: the national high school 8-K cross-country championships, and the 5K (14:30), 10K (29:46) and 3K steeplechase (9:06)"

I'll bet that school is real happy this kid "fell" into their lap.

Good story, but to say the coach didn't know his credentials coming in after the whole program was designed to help gifted student/athletes is a stretch

road rashed wrote:

Good story, but to say the coach didn't know his credentials coming in after the whole program was designed to help gifted student/athletes is a stretch

If you are going to bother to recruit orphan athletes from throughout the world, why bother with a sport like running?

Why not recruit the best seven foot tall orphan from Africa? The best orphan point guard from Lithuania?

There really is no profit to be made by going out of your way to recruit a dream team of orphans who run...

4runner wrote:

If you are going to bother to recruit orphan athletes from throughout the world, why bother with a sport like running?

Why not recruit the best seven foot tall orphan from Africa? The best orphan point guard from Lithuania?

There really is no profit to be made by going out of your way to recruit a dream team of orphans who run...

He's not an orphan, he's got a family in Kenya.

And St. Benedicts the school in NJ, is notorious for importing "students" from around the world for their various sports teams (mostly soccer). They are a prep school that allows 5 years for high school they routinely get players from all over the tri-state area for their basketball team.

The are currently banned from NJ high school state tournaments in all sports because they recruit (they admit it) and they allow 5 years for high school (they admit it too). The school is an old school with a lot of prominent alumni who funnel millions of dollars there each year including the comissioner of the Big 10, the former attorney general of NJ, and none other than G. Gordon Liddy, in addition to a host of professional soccer and basketball players.

Why track now? Well, they got a Kenyan kid who was the national jr. xc champ in Kenya. That'll bring a lot of press to the school, which is all they care about. Heck, this kid is setting course records running in trainers, and everyone is falling all over themselves about what a surprise it is, and what a talent. They claim he's a sophomore but he looks a lot older than that and I wonder what his birth certificate looks like, if he even has one.

Jersey Finger wrote:The are currently banned from NJ high school state tournaments in all sports because they recruit (they admit it)

They're not "banned" from anything.

Like most prep schools in New Jersey, they don't belong to the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, so obviously they can't participate in the NJSIAA tournaments.

They're not banned. They're no different from any other prep school that has post-grads.

Carry on.

Jersey Finger wrote:

And St. Benedicts the school in NJ, is notorious for importing "students" from around the world for their various sports teams (mostly soccer). They are a prep school that allows 5 years for high school they routinely get players from all over the tri-state area for their basketball team.

O.K.-- thanks for the info...

They talk about him being 5 foot 6 and 130 lbs and having a disadvantage. Umm wtf? All the amazing elites are short and light. Sure some high schoolers are taller, but this isnt the pros yet. And why the frick would being heavier be good?

And that school definately recruits. I hate schools like that. One small catholic school around here gives "academic" scholarships to athletes and theyre in the AA division(PA has 2 and 3a) so they have a huge advantage over other AA schools.