Everyone knew something was wrong. As we watched the men in the 5000m at the U.S. Championships stroll from the paddock to the starting line, a sense of disappointment washed over certain areas of the barely-filled Drake Stadium.

We could count the problems on two hands. Nine men in the 5000m at our national championship. Just nine people. Exactly half of the declared entrants decided to not run, which was fine. This race was a safety net for some of the best distance runners in the U.S.

But what about the guys who were stripped down, had their spikes laced up, and were left without starting bibs?

“I’m going to remember that moment for a very long time,” Joe Stilin wrote two days later. “I feel disillusioned by what I’ve cherished as the purest of all sports, the one that’s defined my life for almost nine years now.”

Rather than fill the scratches with athletes waiting on standby, USATF chose to keep the original start list. Stilin, along with Indiana graduate Andy Bayer and Wisconsin graduate Maverick Darling, watched nine guys warmup for two-miles before running the second 1500m final of the weekend compete for three spots on Team USA.



We couldn’t help but ask, “Why did this happen?” It comes down to a lack of concrete precedence, strict rules and a bit of misinformation. But most importantly, it comes down to a strong adherence to the rulebook. There exists almost no room for common sense at USATF.

The Rules and Why There is No Field Size

Below is a section of the Rules and Operating procedures for the Men’s Outdoor T&F Championships, as sent by the Men’s Track and Field Committee Chairman Ed Gorman:

Schedule
-Entries Close June 10th 11:59pm
-Late Entry Closes, June 16th 11:59 pm
-Declaration Starts, June 16th 12:01 am
-Declaration Closes, June 17th 11:59 pm
-Late Declaration Closes, June 18th  2:00 pm
-Petitions for Entry Closes 3:00 pm, and the petitions are ruled upon.  Petitions are submitted for special reasons generally, not necessarily pertaining to specific performances.

- There are no athletes added from this point. We don't know if there will be athletes who scratch from an event and can't assume some will or won't. The exception would be an add, not a replacement, as a result of a petition.
- The size of the fields for the events differ, according to the number of rounds and the type of event. The Games Committee meets and makes the necessary decisions for the meet, chaired by the Sport Committee Chair. All athletes who reach the "A" Standard and are declared, are accepted into the meet (regardless  of the number). e.g. This year the "target" number for the 1,500m was 30-36 but 47 athletes had the "A" so all 47 were accepted.
- Athletes who have the "B" standard are considered Provisional, and are added only to an event to bring the field size to a number as determined by the Sport Committee Chair. There is no fixed minimum field size.
- In the past, the 5,000m used to have trials and finals but this was changed to a one round Final to afford the athletes the ability to double . The 5,000m is now conducted as a one section final of 16 athletes, or more if athletes have the "A" standard.  This year we had 18 with the "A.”
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Before we left for Des Moines, we asked our summer intern Jimmy Stevenson to put together a list of everyone who had the IAAF and U.S. Championships standards.

“Make sure you include the field sizes for each event so we know who is on the bubble,” we said.

“Sure thing,” he replied.

We had never doubted that Jimmy couldn’t get something done. The guy is a workaholic. But when the deadline came, he told us that he didn’t make a bubble list.

“Why not,” we asked as we hastily packed our bags (our flight was in an hour).

“It doesn’t exist, anywhere.”

USATF used to print a list of the desired maximum field sizes for every event. Why was this year different?

“The field sizes are determined by the men's and women's track and field committee,” said a USATF official, who wished to remain anonymous.

“The track and field committee decides the field size for each event and they accept that number. If everyone has the 'A' standard, they're going to let them all in beyond that number. If you've met the automatic qualifying standard and the field size is twice the desired number, then you're stuck with that many entered.”

That unfortunate series of events happened in the men’s 1500m, where a laughable amount of entries were accepted because everyone had the “A” standard. If USATF was looking for 12 people in the final, why didn’t they cut the overall field size down to 36 and run three even sections? Or let two more people in and run four event rounds rather than three crowded heats?

“We had 47 people,” said Gorman in a phone interview with Flotrack. “So what? We had 47 people. We could have changed it a long time ago, but there's no reason to change it. Why would we change it? And we didn't.”

To recap, USATF will take all “A” standards in every event. They will then take enough “B” standards to meet their unprinted “target” per event. So where’s the confusion?

“There's no consistency in the policy,” said coach Mick Byrne. We agree.

There have been a few instances of late petitions and leapfrogging. Some of the most popular cases include Adam Goucher’s petition to run the 10k at the ‘08 Olympic Trials (episode #2c).

Then there was Alan Webb’s late entry into the 5k at the ‘12 Olympic Trials. What about this year?



In Gorman’s email, he said that, “47 athletes had the ‘A,’ so all 47 were accepted.” But that’s not true. Air Force’s Zachary Perkins, who was fresh off his surprise runner-up finish from the NCAA 1500m final, had only run 3:41.46.

The U.S. Championship “A” standard is 3:41.20. There were already 46 guys, so why was one person with the “B” standard accepted? “Zachary Perkins was accepted with a petition,” Gorman said. “Not on his performance.”

Perkins wasn’t the only one who ran despite not having an accepted mark. Did anyone notice something strange about Jenny Simpson running the 5k? She hadn’t run the event in over a year, but was allowed to compete in Des Moines.

However, it’s not unusual for USATF to accept past national championships into a non-tradition event. Simpson had the wildcard in the 1500m, so she could run whatever event she pleased and still go to Moscow. The situation is identical to Bernard Lagat in ’09 when he ran the 800m at U.S. Champs despite not having a mark, either. He was the double World Champion two years prior (5k and 1500m), so he was going to Berlin anyway. Why not run a tuneup 800m?

The problem here is that apparently, the men’s and women’s USATF committees are two different entities within the same organization. You’ll notice that back in ‘09, the women printed the maximum size for each event (under “Standard (men) & “A” and “B” Standards (women)).

The men? Just the “A” standard and we’ll let you guess later.

Does this difference cause continuity issues within USATF? Ask David Torrence.

Did my best to petition to get into USA 5k today. Guess @USATrack_Field thought 9 guys was more exciting.

— David Torrence (@David_Torrence) June 23, 2013

Despite having shown the ability to run the U.S. Championship standard, Torrence’s petition was rejected. Could a miler have won the mile race that was the 5k? Perhaps.

Correction: Torrence did not run the U.S. 5k standard within the window. However, he has shown his ability to run sub-13:30 (via LetsRun).

We have no problem with Jenny Simpson running the 5k. She raised the quality of the race. She also won. But what about the promising young distance runners who get left aside?

“Obviously they're trying to pick the best team to represent the United States in the World Championships. That's what they should do,” Byrne said. “We should be trying to find ways to be inclusive and get these kids into the meet so that they can go forward with their careers…”

So Why Did People Believe They Could Get In?

Before we left, we took a quick glance at the start lists. Anyone who’s involved in the sport, even a little, knew that there would be scratches in the 5k. The question wouldn’t be “how many would be left,” but “how many would be added?”

Why did we think this? Why did Stilin, Darling, and Bayer think this? I guess because there’s not a lot of transparency coming from USATF.

According to the Rules and Procedures, “There are no athletes added from this point. We don't know if there will be athletes who scratch from an event and can't assume some will or won't. The exception would be an add, not a replacement, as a result of a petition.”

Simpson was an “add.” The collegians in the 5k were “replacements.”

Still, why did coaches and athletes have hope? Maybe the answer lies with the fact that one person has the ability to supersede any decision-making process. The same answer is why Byrne was a bit unhappy Sunday morning.

“On Wednesday night at the Renaissance Hotel, [Ed Gorman] and I were talking about track and field in general,” said Byrne. “We somehow got on the topic of the meet. I brought up the situation in the 5k. Ed kept referencing that, 'They made the decision. They.' My assistant coach was with me and I kept saying the next day, 'I thought it was Ed Gorman that made the decision? Did I hear that right?' My assistant coach was there. He heard it, too.”

“I'm disappointed that Ed Gorman couldn't tell me to my face that, 'Hey Mick. I'm the guy that makes the decision.' We run into this situation every year and it has to stop.”

According to sources within USATF and individuals involved with the declaration process, USATF doesn’t make the decisions. They also said it’s not the Rules Committee that makes the decision.

It’s the chairman, Ed Gorman.

“The chairs of the committee have quite a lot of power,” said one USATF official. Apparently, the chair can use his or her discretion before or after the declaration process closes. One example, which was cited by multiple sources, was in ’01 when Dathan Ritzenhein was still in high school. Before the window closed, one official said “the Sport Chair allowed him to enter and declare... despite [having] a mark outside the entry standard.”

Ritzenhein’s current agent, Dan Lilot, also recalled the situation. “...They let Dathan Ritzenhein in ahead of somebody because he was a high school superstar and came within a second of breaking Gerry Lindgren's record,” Lilot said. “You also had [Bob] Kennedy and [Adam] Goucher up front, so I don't think anyone was disappointed that they let Dathan in the meet."

Lilot may know the story well because he’s currently Dathan Ritzenhein’s agent. Perhaps it’s because he also served as the statistician for Track and Field News for six years. In any case, he knows a bit about the inner workings of the sport.

Lilot knew that scratches and depleted field sizes might be an issue. He had entered some other athletes he represents, such as Chris Derrick and Luke Puskedra, in both the 10k and 5k because there was “no reason not to declare [them] if people wouldn’t be moved up.

“I’m the kind of guy that wants as many people to run as possible,” he said. “That's coming from the point of view of those athletes and as a fan. Before entries were even closed and before declarations could even open, I contacted USATF and asked specifically if that once the fields are set, is there any point in scratching athletes specifically so that other people can get in. I was told, 'No. We don't have any plans to move people up.”

After both Ritz and Derrick made the team, Lilot sent an email to USATF to official scratch the two from the 5k. He also sent this tweet, just in case nothing happened (spoiler: nothing happened):

Hey, @USATF, I've got 2 guys (@djritzenhein, @CDerrickRun) who now won't B running the 5 and would love for 2 others 2 B moved into the race

— Dan Lilot (@Lilot1TrackMind) June 21, 2013

Though he had fulfilled his duties, Lilot’s involvement didn’t end there. “I can't remember which day it was, whether it was Friday or Saturday, but Chris Derrick was talking to Mick Byrne and he had heard that there was talk of if people scratched, then other athletes could get in,” he said.

“I'm not sure if that was a hope or if he heard it from someone, but Chris called me and said, 'Hey. I'd love for other guys to get in. I'm not running. Do what you have to do.' So I sent USATF an official email that said I was scratching both Dathan Ritzenhein and Chris Derrick from the 5k. I got a reply that said thank you and that the Track and Field Committee would decide whether someone got in or not.”

That email contradicts two statements.

It’s not actually up to the committee, but the chairman.

2) It’s disagrees with USATF’s policy about releasing the fields. According to Section II, Rule 4a IV of the 2013 USATF Competition Rulebook, “Together with the National Track and Field Committee Chair or the Chair's appointed representative(s),finalize all events, form the heats for competition, and publish them at least 24 hours prior to the time of competition for each
event via a posting on the USATF website.”

USATF’s heat sheets still list all eighteen athletes.

We didn’t even know until hours before the meet started. Heck, even Lopez Lomong told us that he’d run the 5k in his post-race interview (he didn’t). How is anyone supposed to know who’s running if it’s never made public?



Lilot wasn’t the only person to scratch his athletes out of the 5k. There was the USATF Men’s Long Distance Chair and coach of Furman Elite, Robert Gary.

After the 1500m, Gary called Ed Gorman to scratch out Jeff See. Gary recalled that, “Ed said, 'Thanks for letting me know about the scratch.' I told Mick to just keep asking and have Maverick ready to go because it could be pretty last minute."

“In the end, I was really surprised that Maverick Darling didn't get in," said Gary.

According to what's happened in the past, we were surprised, too. But according to the rule book, we shouldn't have been.

"Everyone that I've talked to said that no one with any official decision-making capability ever suggested that that might come to pass,” said one source. “The idea of 'standby' was never any kind of thing to actually implement.”

What Do We Do With People on Standby?

It seems that this situation happens every year. No one, whether it’s the fans, athletes, coaches, or agents, knows what’ll happen after the declaration period ends. If that wasn’t the case, then those collegians wouldn’t have traveled to Des Moines with the hope to compete.

USATF cannot want what happened in the 5k. It had to be embarrassing as much as it was unfortunate for the athletes and fans. If it wasn’t embarrassing for USATF, then there’s another fundamental issue.


Exhibit A
Photo: USATF.tv

Should USATF adopt a “standby” policy so that if this sort of thing happens, then the event can be filled?

Yes and no.

USATF could easily adopt a “Common Sense Rule.” In honor of Independence Day, we’ll base this new rule on the Ninth Amendment which gives citizens, “protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.”

This “Common Sense Rule” would enable a special committee to make decisions if they feel that something is amiss. For example, when half of the entries scratch out of an event. This way, those spots can be filled.

The policy would benefit the fans, but would be tough for people on the bubble. It’s surely easier to drive down from Madison to Des Moines (the case for Darling) than it is to fly across the country.

If USATF would set a minimum number of athletes per event and you were on the bubble, then there’s a chance that you could compete in your national championship. Isn’t that a risk worth taking?

What about travel? The declarations closed on Tuesday. We can assume that people who know they’ll be on the bubble have bought plane ticket or made travel arrangements long beforehand the start list comes out.

If the athlete really wanted to run, they would have made the trip, just in case. Some sources have cited “leapfrogging,” or the possibility of an athlete choosing not to make the trip, being the next in line, and not being able to run because he or she wasn’t there as a potential issue. Some schools or individuals also don’t have the budget to make week-long travel arrangements. That's understandable.

I say that if you didn’t run fast enough, then you have to gamble.

Even if USATF didn’t want to adopt a scratch-down policy, they could make the standards easier and hope that people choose to not run. According to Ed Gorman, “There's a rule that forty-five days out, [USATF] can change standards. They can make it softer or harder. Nobody ever thinks that it's going to be made harder, but they could be.”

Again, it’s all about assumptions. Let’s say that too many people have the “A” standard in an event no one scratches out. Then you’re stuck with an oversized field, which is exactly what happened in the men’s 1500m. Why not make the 5k standard easier and let more people compete? Or just make the 1500m standard harder. One of the two would have sufficed.

The people in charge should be able to look at the start list, make a conservative guess at the number of people who will scratch, and then change the standard accordingly.

Both Lilot and Gary had mixed thoughts. Lilot explained, “Having a policy to not add anyone is understandable, but there has to be some degree of common sense. If you followed the sport and looked at that 5k field, that the attrition rate would be huge. So why not add an extra five or six guys to err on the conservative side.”

When it was all said and done, “there were no formal discussions” about changing the rules, according to Gorman.

How Do We Move Forward?

It’s incredible that an athlete can run 13:31 and not make the U.S. Championships. That's just a testament to the present-day talent in the U.S. But what about keeping promising athletes, like Stilin, Darling, and Bayer, from becoming disillusioned with the sport? The U.S. Championships seems more about rigid rules and back room politics than developing young athletes.

"Just because that's the way they've always done it, doesn't mean that it's the right way to do it,” said Stilin.

So what can we do?

“The best way to understand the process is to go to the USATF annual meeting in Indianapolis in December and talk with the people that are involved. In general, that's where the processes are set up,” said our source.

We’ll see you in December.