USATF accidentally gives Craig Leons Pan Am spot to Tyler McCandless. Should TrackTy give up slot?

Ask about the fiasco with the World's team selection...

Bumb... I wanna know what the **** is going on here...

Dafuq give the eugene boy his spot. This is ridiculous.

Why do you think that this is an accident?

McCandless was brought in because of his massive social media presence. USATF is trying to increase public interest in the Pan-Am Games and they know Ty Ty will Instagram and tweet non stop about his selection. His literally tens of thousand of followers comment on his every move. I wouldn't be surprised if we see record viewership of this years events thanks to Tylers presence.

Wow, terribly unfair. Craig is consistently under 2:15 and hasn't run a marathon since January, while McCandless recently ran one and was over 2:17.

Hopefully the guy realizes the mistake and has enough honor to let Craig have the spot.

Well at least Craig still has a full of head of hair. Nothing is worse than going bald at age 28 like Tyler.

thought I'd remind everyone that this doesn't need to turn into a craig v tyler pissing contest, but rather needs to remain focused on finding out a definitive answer to whether usatf effed this one up royally (again). if so, mr leon has a legitimate legal claim against usatf and I would donate at least $100 for such a case. bullshitis if true~

no horse in the race wrote:

mr leon has a legitimate legal claim against usatf and I would donate at least $100 for such a case.

What legal claim is that?

no horse in the race wrote:

thought I'd remind everyone that this doesn't need to turn into a craig v tyler pissing contest, but rather needs to remain focused on finding out a definitive answer to whether usatf effed this one up royally (again). if so, mr leon has a legitimate legal claim against usatf and I would donate at least $100 for such a case. bullshitis if true~

Hi sorry im stupid, but what do you mean by again? when did usatf screw this up before?

Here's my question: Did Craig Leon actually contact USATF directly about the issue?

I understand venting online, fine, and even informing the public of USATF's mistakes. But it seems like people go to social media to passive aggressively address this stuff, rather than talking with the organization itself. USATF should follow the policy it sets forth (and stick to a single policy), but people also shouldn't be chosen for teams via Twitter.

Also- was the issue that Craig didn't file the proper paperwork? That came up in one of the tweet chains and it sounds like he didn't file ANY paperwork.

I feel bad for Tyler McCandless, because this puts him in an uncomfortable position at no fault of his own.

I sympathize with both athletes. There doesn't seem to be a clean solution here, unless Leon messed up his application somehow in which case the answer is do nothing. But asking Tyler to give up his spot after he was told several weeks ago that he'd be representing USA for the first time ever seems particularly cruel.

On the other hand, they could add another athlete to the marathon at Worlds...

Negligence. If they have an established criteria and did not apply it correctly (or ignored it altogether) there is a negligence claim.

Susan Haywood was left off the 2004 Olympic team in mountain biking because USA Cycling did not credit her with points earned in a race and as a result she missed the team selection. She was awarded $300,000 plus legal fees ($18,647.14). The judge said that the fact were not in dispute and issued summary judgment.

IF (and I say IF) the system here is that the fastest guy goes (I'm sure based on best times within a window), and they don't send the fastest guy, the case is easy pickings. However, it very well may be much more complicated because of language in the selection criteria that could give them much more latitude to "pick" a runner.

For those who may be wondering, the procedures for picking the Pan Am marathoners are fairly simple and straightforward. They leave nothing to the discretion of the committee:

1.2.1 The Marathon event will be selected using the best times achieved (per gender) on an IAAF approved course from July 1, 2014 to March 29, 2015. IAAF approved courses can be found at

www.iaaf.org

.

Interestingly, these are not the same as for the World's Team, which give more discretion to the selection committee:

Marathon athletes for Team USA for the 2015 IAAF World Championships shall be selected as follows:

1. One man and one woman from among the top-five finishers at the 2014 USATF Marathon Championships (Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon) on October 5, 2014, will be selected for Team USA, providing that the athletes meet the IAAF Qualification Standards.

2. One Man and one woman from the top-five U.S. finishers at the 2015 USATF Marathon Championships (LA Marathon) shall be selected for Team USA, providing they have achieved the IAAF Qualifying Standard prior to the LA Marathon. Since LA isn’t an IAAF eligible course, athletes will need to have achieved the IAAF Standard on an eligible course between July 1, 2014 and April 26, 2015.

3. One man and one woman from the U. S. marathon performance list from July 1, 2014 through April 26, 2015 shall be selected for Team USA, providing they have achieved the IAAF Qualifying Standard.

Pan Am selection criteria:

http://www.usatf.org/usatf/files/1a/1a9be5b4-8f17-48a9-b86e-cb7785215763.pdf

World Championships selection criteria:

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2015/IAAF-World-Outdoor-Championships/Athlete-Info/Athlete-Selection-Procedures.aspx

So how does Craig make a legit claim to be on the team? If he wasn't selected he wasn't selected.

1. Does Leon have a valid passport? I assume he does, but if he doesn't, that looks like a valid reason not to select him.

2. Is the Statement of Conditions signed prior to selection or after selection? If it's signed prior to selection and Leon (for whatever reason) didn't sign it, that could be a reason.

3. Did Leon contact USATF or the athlete ombudsman with his concerns?

My first question was whether or not Leon submitted an application for the team. I assume there is some sort of paperwork process. We can't expect USATF to just keep track of all our (2nd tier?) athletes' performances and just assume they want to participate.

Craig Leon ‏@cleonrun Jul 7

.@mattychamp I simply ran too many times (outside the qualifying window) faster than my 2:14:43 in Houston and they forgot about Houston.

Saying "they" forgot about Houston implies that he expected USATF to know about his performance. In other words, he didn't submit paperwork documenting his interest in participating and his Houston performance. I don't think USATF would just forget about Houston if it was submitted.

If this is the case then I feel sorry for McCandless. He deserves to go yet there will likely be many people in the Leon camp passive aggressively lobbying for a correction.

brogan1 wrote:

My first question was whether or not Leon submitted an application for the team. I assume there is some sort of paperwork process. We can't expect USATF to just keep track of all our (2nd tier?) athletes' performances and just assume they want to participate.

Craig Leon ‏@cleonrun Jul 7

.@mattychamp I simply ran too many times (outside the qualifying window) faster than my 2:14:43 in Houston and they forgot about Houston.

Saying "they" forgot about Houston implies that he expected USATF to know about his performance. In other words, he didn't submit paperwork documenting his interest in participating and his Houston performance. I don't think USATF would just forget about Houston if it was submitted.

If this is the case then I feel sorry for McCandless. He deserves to go yet there will likely be many people in the Leon camp passive aggressively lobbying for a correction.

The Millenial Way!

Positive Contribution wrote:

So how does Craig make a legit claim to be on the team? If he wasn't selected he wasn't selected.

Easy! He says this: The selection committee can't pick whoever they want. They have to pick using the selection rule set out by the USATF. The rule for picking the Pan Am team require them to pick the people will the best times.

I'm just curious how you read the Pan Am selection rule so it gives discretion to the selection committee. The rule seems straightforward:

"The Marathon event will be selected using the best times achieved...."

This rule is very different from the rule for picking the World Championship team. That rule -- they shall pick "One man and one woman from among the top-five finishers..." -- explicitly requires the committee to make a choice. Given the difference between the rules, it seems clear the Pan-Am selection rule gives the committee no choice but to pick the fastest runners.

Am I missing something?