Cheserek ran 3 mile races under 3:59 in a 24.1 hour period at NCAAs. Were the coaches wise to also run him in the 3K?

Galen Rupp had a harder workload IMO and he ended up fine. I think that if you recover the right way you will be fine. I wouldn't expect to see Ches outdoors for a while. I think they will give him a nice break. He did look gassed at the end of that 3k though

I think you're question is legitimate and will spawn some interesting discussion, so please don't take offense to the fact that I'm poo-poohing the notion that Cheserek was raced too much. These are young, well-trained guys. They can handle it.

If anything, college runners are coddled too much. Look at the cross country season, for example. The schedule of CC races is trending toward non-existent, and even those races are often skipped by the best runners on each team. Seems like the best teams will run their best guys maybe three times the entire fall (and that 3 includes the championship meet). I'm not sure I'd even enjoy running CC in this day and age...training rewarded with almost no racing.

What an amazing meet for him. Lalang did something similar his senior year. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

While I agree that Ches deserves a nice long break, I hope his coaches let him loose at some point this season in either a fast 1500 or a fast 5000. No teammates to worry about, no points to worry about. Just putting up a BIG PR.

...Did you see the interview where (before he came to the USA) he had to run 100 miles in two days to get to a school for exams to qualify for his high school scholarship to the USA high school he attended?

I am sure he'll be getting a good long easy streak from coach Powell and that he won't debut racing in outdoors until as late as possible...

Sack Up wrote:

I think you're question is legitimate and will spawn some interesting discussion, so please don't take offense to the fact that I'm poo-poohing the notion that Cheserek was raced too much. These are young, well-trained guys. They can handle it.

If anything, college runners are coddled too much. Look at the cross country season, for example. The schedule of CC races is trending toward non-existent, and even those races are often skipped by the best runners on each team. Seems like the best teams will run their best guys maybe three times the entire fall (and that 3 includes the championship meet). I'm not sure I'd even enjoy running CC in this day and age...training rewarded with almost no racing.

but then you look at someone like Abbey D - she doubled, tripled, quadrupled at conference and dual meets, conference meets, national meets....and when she graduated, people thought she would be one of the best young pros...but she had to take 4 months off because she was so tired and she still hasn't run well, almost a year after graduation.

there are other examples, but I don't think you should make blanket statements like you did there.

Time will tell if he gets burned out. It might encourage him to turn pro early.

Clear view wrote:

The men's 3000 was one of my favorite races at the NCAA meet this year but one of the big knocks against the NCAA system is that coaches sometimes run their athletes into the ground in pursuit of points and titles. This seemed like an example of that, even if Cheserek wanted to run in the event, especially since Oregon had four other strong runners entered in the 3K. They needed a maximum of 11 points to secure the team title at that point, but it ended up that only 1 point was needed because Florida did not finish the 4x400 relay. It is pretty early in the year to be asking an athlete to go that deep into the well.

he ran four races in a weekend, he only ran four races in the previous two months of indoors;

He won't race again until the Stanford Invite and then only to run a 29 minute 10K "time trial" to qualify for the regional meet.

Maybe then at Penn Relays? He only needs a 5k and 10K qualifying time

I think the Oregon coaches wanted to be sure that they got the needed points in the 3K since an opportunity to win the team title might not come along again soon. Jenkins and the other 3 Oregon guys in the 3K (and 5K) will have no eligibility remaining after this year and Ches could very well decide to turn professional with the World Indoor Championships being held in Oregon next winter and the Olympics coming next summer.

bolder1 wrote:

I think the Oregon coaches wanted to be sure that they got the needed points in the 3K since an opportunity to win the team title might not come along again soon. Jenkins and the other 3 Oregon guys in the 3K (and 5K) will have no eligibility remaining after this year and Ches could very well decide to turn professional with the World Indoor Championships being held in Oregon next winter and the Olympics coming next summer.

He won't turn pro until he has US citizenship.

I don't think there is reason to believe he will have it anytime soon.

Sam Chelanga has lived in the US since 2006, is married to an American, has a child with an American, and still doesn't have his citizenship yet.

I don't see why some believe Ed will have it by next year.

That's a good point, although I guess it depends upon how much a company like Nike might be willing to pay. Perhaps no offers from Nike if they hope to see him remain at the U of Oregon. The Kenyan Olympic team would be very difficult to make, even if they did allow Ches compete in their trials next summer (knowing that he has filed a U.S. citizenship application).

he's what, 20, 21? yeezus he'll be fine. remember the things you could do to your body at that age and bounce back like nothing happened?

Clear view wrote:

The men's 3000 was one of my favorite races at the NCAA meet this year but one of the big knocks against the NCAA system is that coaches sometimes run their athletes into the ground in pursuit of points and titles. This seemed like an example of that, even if Cheserek wanted to run in the event, especially since Oregon had four other strong runners entered in the 3K. They needed a maximum of 11 points to secure the team title at that point, but it ended up that only 1 point was needed because Florida did not finish the 4x400 relay. It is pretty early in the year to be asking an athlete to go that deep into the well.

Let's be real. He ran a 1000 meter race and a 200 meter sprint, and aside from that he was doing nothing that difficult for him.

Sack Up wrote:

If anything, college runners are coddled too much. Look at the cross country season, for example. The schedule of CC races is trending toward non-existent, and even those races are often skipped by the best runners on each team. Seems like the best teams will run their best guys maybe three times the entire fall (and that 3 includes the championship meet). I'm not sure I'd even enjoy running CC in this day and age...training rewarded with almost no racing.

Coaches wouldn't be holding out their top runners if it didn't work. IT DOES WORK. Most distance runners can't run six or seven great 8k/10k races in a single season. It's just isn't happening. Overracing is a real problem, especially with indoors.

I saw powell had measured out 400 meters at the airport. straight shots and over the moving walk ways. King was hitting 38's and 39's for his 10 * 400's with no curves..

Clear view wrote:

The men's 3000 was one of my favorite races at the NCAA meet this year but one of the big knocks against the NCAA system is that coaches sometimes run their athletes into the ground in pursuit of points and titles. This seemed like an example of that, even if Cheserek wanted to run in the event, especially since Oregon had four other strong runners entered in the 3K. They needed a maximum of 11 points to secure the team title at that point, but it ended up that only 1 point was needed because Florida did not finish the 4x400 relay. It is pretty early in the year to be asking an athlete to go that deep into the well.

It is a season that burns you out, not a meet. Keep in mind that most of your top NCAA athletes are only running about 4-5 times prior to the champs; they are only doubling at 1 or 2 meets and only 1 or 2 of those races are all out efforts. When I was in college, we ran nearly twice as much and most races were all out efforts. Btw, when you are a star H.S. athlete and go to a school chasing NCAA championships, you have to accept they are not going to let you leave points on the table.

I am also against tripling/quadrupling, although Mile races are less impact. Abbey D hasn't shown a nice transition- but it's early. I thought back in the day a guy named John Mortimer was raced to death at Michigan.

Am I the only one who is getting tired of Africans coming to the US and dominating the NCAA's? IMHO, it would be nice if US citizenship would be required to compete.

And yes, I understand that would include a few others as well from Canada and Europe.

hart crane wrote:

While I agree that Ches deserves a nice long break, I hope his coaches let him loose at some point this season in either a fast 1500 or a fast 5000. No teammates to worry about, no points to worry about. Just putting up a BIG PR.

Or they keep him sheltered and not in PR races so that he can't realize his full potential and go pro before helping winning the ducks more titles.