USATF let's Nike athletes into Olympic Trials who haven't qualified

Martin Hehir 28:27.70 accepted declared

Chris Derrick BTC / Bowerman Track Club 28:31.75 accepted declared

Robert Cheseret U.S. Army 28:31.91 not qualified not accepted

Cheseret was just 0.16 slower and also under 28:32.00 plus his club has access to lots of guns and has freekin' big posse yet they failed to bully their way in.

USATF did not even make the cutoff 28:32 to loosely hide the dirty deed.

I like Derrick but ....

Let's start a petition to get Cheseret in the race, www.change.org

skinny skinny wrote:

The saga continues. Previous years we've had Goucher and Webb, not we have Chris Derrick.

Derrick is sitting #27 on the entry list in the 10k. They had let the top 24 in as accepted and declared athletes as of last night. The field size, as described by USATF is 24, so all looked normal.

Today, #25, 26, and 27 are now accepted and entered.

At least they had the decency to allow for #'s 25 and 26 to be pushed in by Mr. Derrick.

How come this only happens to Nike athletes?

I guess that's what a 30 year deal buys you.

and people wonder why you'd sing with NIKE....this is a huge advantage. Cue the Whiners.

It's funny Adam Goucher certainly accepted his spot when he ran for Nike. Now he's all anti-Nike BS

I think the bigger reason they extended the field to include Derrick is that he made the World Championship Team in 2013 and was 4th in the 2012 trials. I have absolutely no problem extending the field to include guys who have made teams in the past. Even if I'm wrong, and it was because he is sponsored by Nike, why WOULDN'T you want a guy with Derrick's background in the race? Goucher, Webb--same thing.

It would be different if they were giving the 24th spot to Derrick and taking it away from somebody else, but adding 3 people to the field so that a proven veteran has a chance to earn a spot--who is harmed by this? (Nobody)

Why didn't he try to qualify 3 weeks ago at the Meet in his hometown with pacers?

Chris Derrick is raping the system.

Jerry knew they'd get him in, so why risk injury (injury prone) and let the cat out of the bag that he is primed to win this thing!

Rape... no. Just gamesmanship.

Have they filled the 800 field to 32 or sticking with 30?

I see it's 32.

And on a side note, who made that page? How ridiculous is it that to see the entries you have to click the event, click open w/m, then m/w again? Even when they break out the gender in the title of the event. Just poor design, gonna burn my mouse out with all the clicking.

So the 10000 will have 27 runners. Fine.

Then why in the hell have they only accepted TWENTY in the 5000? Which isn't even the finals? That makes perfect sense.

messi wrote:

Who came up with the 27 number? Why not 24, 30, 48?

Because it's 3 cubed. The only other options would be 8 or 64, too few or too many.

Only 20 in the 5000 wrote:

So the 10000 will have 27 runners. Fine.

Then why in the hell have they only accepted TWENTY in the 5000? Which isn't even the finals? That makes perfect sense.

And despite the suggestion that Chris Derrick's Nike affiliation got him into the 10000, it didn't seem to work for Jordan Hasay in the 5000, as she's the first woman out. And that field is only 23 right now. She would be #24 if they let her in.

Only 20 in the 5000 wrote:

Then why in the hell have they only accepted TWENTY in the 5000? Which isn't even the finals? That makes perfect sense.

Declarations for the 5000m haven't closed yet so spots are being held open until that happens. There will be at least 24.

As for the 10000m, I think we can all see what happened with Derrick.

But I note the women's 10k has also been expanded by one spot to include Lindsey Flanagan of Mizuno.

Anyone have any theories on that? Just USATF giving itself a way to say: see, we didn't only do it for the men/NIke/Derrick?

You are wrong on Lindsey Flanagan. She met the standard.

1. There is a standard set

2. There is a MINIMUM field size

3. They then fill the field with people that did not meet the standard

The women's 10k had more than 24 that met the standard.

I will speak slowly wrote:

You are wrong on Lindsey Flanagan. She met the standard. .

Thanks; I should have thought of that and checked.

At this point why not add in the last 5 runners and make it an even 32 person field? Only seven seconds separates the last runner from Derrick. I think it's a good thing to let in more runners and help with their development. It just doesn't sit quite right when they expand to Derrick and then stop there.

USATF just needs a more clearly defined process so athletes have a heads up if they are going to be competing or not. A lot of decisions seem arbitrary when some fields get expanded and some don't. And then some runners get contacted and some runners happen to see their name and status changed by going online- i.e. Becky Wade.

The fact that they've accepted Chris Derrick repping nike at 28:31.75 but not Robert Cheseret repping US Army at 28:31.91 is simply unamerican. End of story

#buildthatwall

toughest gang in the USA= Nike wrote:

Martin Hehir 28:27.70 accepted declared

Chris Derrick BTC / Bowerman Track Club 28:31.75 accepted declared

Robert Cheseret U.S. Army 28:31.91 not qualified not accepted

Cheseret was just 0.16 slower and also under 28:32.00 plus his club has access to lots of guns and has freekin' big posse yet they failed to bully their way in.

I like Derrick but ....

This is disgusting.

They went several seconds and three places slower to get down to Derrick, but then wouldn't let in a guy with the EXACT SAME TIME? (Which 0.16 basically is in two different 10,000 races.)

0.16 is literally one TEN THOUSANDTH of the race time. (Less, actually. 27:20 = 1620s). Track measurements aren't even that accurate.

There is no good reason to keep Cheseret out that doesn't apply to Derrick. I dare you to name one.

2008-Adam Goucher skipped 4 athletes who had faster times than him in the 10,000, none got pushed in.

2012-Alan Webb jumped at least 4 athletes who had run faster than him. Webb was DFL in his heat at trials. 3 others scratched after the deadline. There was one heat of 10 and one heat of 11.

USATF is gross and corrupt wrote:

toughest gang in the USA= Nike wrote:

Martin Hehir 28:27.70 accepted declared

Chris Derrick BTC / Bowerman Track Club 28:31.75 accepted declared

Robert Cheseret U.S. Army 28:31.91 not qualified not accepted

Cheseret was just 0.16 slower and also under 28:32.00 plus his club has access to lots of guns and has freekin' big posse yet they failed to bully their way in.

I like Derrick but ....

This is disgusting.

They went several seconds and three places slower to get down to Derrick, but then wouldn't let in a guy with the EXACT SAME TIME? (Which 0.16 basically is in two different 10,000 races.)

0.16 is literally one TEN THOUSANDTH of the race time. (Less, actually. 27:20 = 1620s). Track measurements aren't even that accurate.

There is no good reason to keep Cheseret out that doesn't apply to Derrick. I dare you to name one.

Derrick has made 2 teams in this event. He's also a multiple time US champion in cross country. So I can easily understand why he gets the benefit of the doubt.