Elliott Denman whispered to me, in the hot and humid tent that was the media tent at the USA Outdoors, that he had an exclusive. Edward Cheserek is beginning process to become US citizen.
Ed Cheserek, photo by Cheryl Treworgy/Pretty Sporty
The top NCAA cross country and track contender will be able to race for the US soon.
Updated 9 PM Paris time, 6 July. : Some sources are contesting the time frame of Mr. Cheserek’s U.S. Passport. Seems he may be a little over enthusiastic. Ed Cheserek has applied for U.S. citizenship, it seems that the time frame is the issue. Stay tuned on this story.
By ELLIOTT DENMAN
EUGENE, OREGON – Ryan Hill (13:50.69), Ben True (13:51.09) and Galen Rupp (13:51.54)
delivered a rousing finish and upsetting result to the men’s 5000-meter final for the 10,746 fans
gathered at historic Hayward Field on the concluding day of the USA Outdoor Track and Field
Championships.
They weren’t world-class fast – understandable on a still sultry Sunday morning – but they sure
made it exciting.
So did Garrett Heath (13:51.61), David Torrence (13:52.24) and Lopez Lomong (13:53.64),
who were nipping at their heels.
All going as expected, the Hill-True-Rupp trio (of four-letter guys) will be Uncle Sam’s team
at the IAAF World Championships In Beijing in late August.
The shock was seeing home hero Rupp actually lose a 5000-meter race in front of his legion of fans
and on his favorite track. General consensus was that his 28:11.61 10,000-meter win at Nationals
Thursday night had taken its toll on his legs.
Taking all this in, with a vast amount of interest, from his vantage point in the Tracktown USA
promotional booth, just outside the southside of the Hayward Field Track, was a young man who
knows he can run with all these guys, but was precluded by the ground rules of the game from filing
an entry.
Ed Cheserek and Eric Jenkins in full flight, photo by Cheryl Treworgy/Pretty Sporty
He certainly could afford the $30 entry fee. He had the qualifying time standards well beaten.
But they stipulate you must be a USA citizen and fully eligible to represent this nation in
international competition to file your way into the USA Nationals.
So all Edward Cheserek could do was sit trackside and play spectator.
He doesn’t go blabbing about things and he may even figure that not too many people are
interested in them. .
But Hill, True, Rupp, Heath, Torrence, Lomong, et al, surely should take note, of what
Cheserek told this curious visitor to the Tracktown USA booth.
If they don’t, they’d be very-very foolish.
“Edward, we’ve heard that you’re applying for American citizenship,” he was asked.
“Yes” was the eager response.
“And how is that application coming along ?”
“Quite well, thank you,” he said. “It all should be done by July.”
So there you have it – from the mouth of the sure-to-be next big thing in American distance running.
To remind followers of the track and field game, Edward Cheserek, born and raised in Kenya,
prepped at St. Benedict’s of Newark, N.J., having just completed
his sophomore year at the University of Oregon, is already an eight-time NCAA
champion, indoors, outdoors, relays, cross country.
He has been an unbeatable force running against undergraduate competition.
He notched bests of 13:18.71 and 28:30.18 doing the 5-And-10 Double.
And those times came as a freshman.
He would seem to have unlimited possibilities, the talent and drive to
put him right up there with the elite of America…or any other nation.
Even Kenya, his homeland.
“My hero is Bernard Lagat,” Cheserek tells you.
“He has achieved so much in this sport. And he’s so wonderful for track and field.”
Lagat, to remind you, came from Kenya to Washington State University
and eventual recognition, along with two Olympic and 11 World Championships medals,
as one of the magnificent men in his sport’s annals.
Sunday was not Bernard Lagat’s day. Injuries may have been a factor but age, too. Now of Masters
eligibility, he wilted to 10th place in 13:59.48 in the 5000-meter final.
“Bernard finally looked like he was 40,” said Ryan Hill.
Maybe so, maybe not.
Whenever, whatever transpires, good student Edward Cheserek was taking it all
in quite carefully.
All going the way he expects it to – and with the approval of the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service – he will be running in the USA Olympic Trials next summer on this
same Hayward Field track.
Yes, lining up with Hill, True, Rupp, Heath, Torrence, Lomong….and Bernard “My Hero” Lagat.
Yes, giving cheer to the legion of Oregon Duck fans ready to – maybe/just maybe – welcome
a new American Olympian.
Edward Cheserek plans to test the international waters on the European circuit sometime
later this summer.
And hopefully carry his new passport to get there.
