VA Tech senior Leoule Degfae, who was DQd at regionals despite no contact, has been added to 2014 NCAA 5k field

good on the NCAA for not acting like power happy 13 year olds for once.

That is awesome--

Why does the Harvard kid get to run? Asterix that kid like crazy.

WinterSkills wrote:

Why does the Harvard kid get to run? Asterix that kid like crazy.

Wow we have a comic book fan in the house! Asterix is a very obscure reference I must say.

Great outcome. Good decision by NCAA.

And couldn't happen to a better kid. Le is a total class act.

run for funnn wrote:

Wow we have a comic book fan in the house! Asterix is a very obscure reference I must say.

Used to be a regular (and good) poster here with that handle. He was great in some threads about POSE

This whole thing sounds a bit Hokie to me.

Second place wrote:

This whole thing sounds a bit Hokie to me.

That's what it's all about

So why are we rewarding coaches for not following rules explicitly laid out at the coaches meeting the day before. It's like 3rd grade listening skills - it's your job - lucky for him there is zero accountability in TF coaching so he won't get fired. What a joke.

Not sure how I feel about this. Degfae is essentially benefiting from the NCAA officials' mistake. If the rules are followed, he does not run the 5k and does not go to Eugene. Ignorance is not an excuse.

I guess letting the Harvard kid run makes it okay - he should not be left out because the officials made a mistake and let Degfae run the 5k.

At the end of the day, Degfae just got really lucky the officials let him slip onto the start line. Intentional or not, he pulled one over on the NCAA. I guess that kind of stuff happens in sports all the time. So it goes.

By the way, the "with no contact" part is completely irrelevant to the real issues here. Why even say that in the title? To me, it makes it evident that the OP was willing to say anything to convince readers Degfae was wronged.

I really really hope that this was an objective decision not compelled by emotional appeals like those presented in the original thread. I'm fine with the NCAA rectifying their mistake, but the reasons to reinstate him presented in that thread were not compelling to me.

The NCAA determined that Degfae did not break the honest effort rule. Why is that so difficult for some of you to understand?

Maybe because nobody has said it yet.

Yes - He did break the honest effort rule. The rule states if you DNF or DNS you HAVE to meet with the on-site medical staff to get medical clearance that you dropped out for medical purposes. If you do not do this, you are out of the meet regardless of why you didn't finish the race.

The V. Tech Coaching staff did not do this - therefore he should not have been allowed to race in the 5k and been out of the meet. It is standard championship protocol.

The V Tech kid was DQed at the East Region for this. The Track and Field Rules committee upheld that ruling which they should. The V Tech staff still could not accept the responsibility they messed up and went to higher ups in the NCAA to get their athlete into the meet. This is a bad precedent being set for our sport. We have a rule book - follow it. And the coaches need to accept their responsibility they didn't follow proper protocol. He should not be allowed to compete at this meet.

I am really glad Lee Degfae has been reinstated.

I agree 100%. Allowing the VT kid to compete is total BS! It really does set a bad precedent. It was clearly stated in the East regionals coaches meeting what the rules were regarding DNS and DNF. All the kid gad to do was go to the medical tent and get looked at and cleared to run, but he didn't. This is total BS and almost all the coaches except for VT understand this.

The rule does not say that about a DNF. That was their INTERPRETATION. Those higher up thought otherwise.

Honestly I don't understand the back lash here. The kid ran 22 of 25 laps. Then two days later crushed it. Let the kid run.

The thing that puts a bad taste in my mouth is the Harvard coach. That was a dick move. However once advancing the right thing was to let both run.

Look, things happen in sports. In my opinion we should side with the athletes and do what's right. There was no advantage running 22 laps of a 10k. If he was a no show and kept someone from running regionals fine.

Why you all so angry, the right thing was done here.

Yes He Did wrote:

Yes - He did break the honest effort rule.

No, a DNF does not mean the rule was broken. You can say it a million times but you will still be wrong.

In current news, I noticed James Leakos of Harvard got a DQ in the 10k final tonight. Anyone know why?