Add Garrett Heath of the Brooks Beasts to the list of athletes off the Pan Am Games team...
In a text Friday from Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey to publisher Paul Merca, Mackey stated that Garrett Heath (left/photo by Paul Merca), who was originally named to the team in the USA Track & Field release posted on Monday, was replaced as a result of an arbitration hearing.
Normally, the Pan Am Games team is selected from the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships, where the top two finishers get to go.
However, since the USA championships are in late July (after entries are due; entries were due this week) and the Pan Am Games are less than a week after the national championships, USATF published a memo on December 13, 2018 stating that marks from the 2019 season would determine the makeup of the Pan Am team.
Only problem was that when the team was announced Monday, the marks used to determine the team was from a combination of marks set in both 2018 AND 2019, and not from the 2019 list.
According to an article posted on letsrun.com, there was an email sent out by USA Track & Field on June 20th stating the it would use the combined 2018-19 list. Needless to say, there was a lot of confusion by athletes, coaches, and agents over what the selection criteria is/was.
Heath ran 27:56.11 at the 2018 Payton Jordan Invitational, which was the second fastest time in the country. So far in 2019, he has only run two races—a fifth place finish at 3000 meters at the Husky Classic on February 8th, where he ran 7:51.62; and an 8:36.37 time in the 2 mile at the USA indoor championships on February 23rd.
In a nutshell, here’s the timeline of what happened after Monday’s release:
—Jonathan Gault of letsrun.com writes a piece stating that USA Track & Field didn’t use the posted criteria to select the team—off the 2019 US Performance rank order list as of June 10th; Gault’s post included an excerpt from an email sent to athletes by USATF associate director of international teams Kimberly Sims essentially stating that the combined 2018-19 list would be used instead of the 2019 list;
—In reaction to being called out, USATF quietly backtracked and without issuing a public explanation, changed the press release, and substituted names of athletes. Among those taken off the original team roster: University of Washington alum Izaic Yorks of Mackey’s Brooks Beasts squad.
—As the Pan Am Games team is one of the teams covered by the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, at least three athletes who were left off the original roster filed for an expedited arbitration hearing that happened via conference call on Wednesday evening.
According to Mackey, one of the parties who filed for arbitration was coach Scott Simmons of the Colorado-based American Distance Project, who had several athletes at the top of the 2019 performance list in the 10000.
In a post on letsrun.com Friday night, Arizona alum Lawi Lalang, who has run 28:03.34 this season (and is coached by Simmons), is the athlete bumping Heath off the Pan Am squad.
—In a text Wednesday to Merca, Mackey stated that neither he nor Yorks were informed about the arbitration call, or the email that was circulated hours before the hearing, titled “NOTICE OF ARBITRATION HEARING THIS EVENING THAT COULD IMPACT PAN AM GAMES TEAM ROSTER”.
—According to a post on the Facebook group “Im tired of USATF and IAAF crippling our sport”, group moderator Becca Peter said that “Apparently the result of arbitration is that some events are having the 2019-only window applied and some are having the 2018-2019 window applied.”
“Garrett Heath was on the team (and is still on the press release) but has been notified he is now off the team.”
“He was in with a 2018 mark.”
Bottom line—in some events, USATF is using the 2019 list for the team, and in other events, it is using the combined 2018-19 descending order list.
After the arbitration ruling was handed down, Mackey left a message and an email with the ombudsman and a lawyer.
Even though Heath has been told that he’s off the Pan Am Games team, the roster as it stands at the time of this writing still has his name on the USATF release.
As they say in the business, it’s not over until it’s over.
SEVERAL MIDDLE DISTANCE RUNNERS WITH WASHINGTON TIES HEAD TO EUGENE TO CHASE QUALIFYING STANDARDS…
As a special feature of this year’s TrackTown Youth League Championship meet at Lane Community College in Eugene on Saturday, June 29, three elite races have been set up for athletes aiming to achieve qualifying standards for the 2019 USATF Outdoor Championships and the 2019 IAAF World Championships.
These races will run after the youth league championship, starting with the men’s 800 at 4:10, followed by the women’s 800 at 4:20, and the men’s 1500 at 4:35 pm.
Running the men’s 800 are Washington volunteer assistant coaches Sam Prakel and Amos Bartelsmeyer, along with current Husky Mick Stanovsek.
The women’s 800 features Olympia native Brooke Feldmeier and Washington alums Eleanor Fulton and Baylee Mires.
Prakel will double back to run the men’s 1500, along with 2016 Olympian and former Emerald Ridge HS standout Hassan Mead.
TrackTown USA will live stream the elite races via its Instagram account @tracktownusa.
NOTE: TrackTown USA contributed to this report. Special thanks to letsrun.com for their research.
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