Duke literally dropped the baton 2 meters from finish line and loses ACC team title as a result (video)

Yet again, another reason not to carry the baton in your right hand.

Cons to right hand:

-Baton travels longer distance.

-The L to R hand transition risks a drop and slows you down

-Unless you plan to get passed on the inside, the baton is much more likely to get knocked out of your hand.

Carry in your left hand, end of discussion…literally everyone is doing this wrong.

She was deleted the tweet. I didn't see their reactions. I hope it is included in the full meet replay on ACC Network.

But how can Duke possibly complain about anything? That could not have been more clear cut. Even the former Duke coach on the telecast was saying the baton is obviously out before the line. The Duke anchor remained too close to the Miami anchor throughout, when all she had to do was finish. The Virginia Tech result was already on the board from the opening heat and it was very slow. There was no real-time uncertainty like 2019, when Anna Cockrell dropped the baton on third leg as USC was head to head with Arkansas in the same heat of the outdoor championships, with the higher finisher winning the title.

That Duke female coach was standing there inside the first turn on Thursday night, hustling to the edge of the track and shouting instructions to Maatoug on literally every lap. Then after the race ended she threw her arms to the air in celebration, but it looked like quite a bit of arrogance also. Why wasn't she similarly hustling to the edge of the track during the relay, imploring her runners to just get out of the way and take care of the baton?

Weird for me because I've rooted against Duke all my life. Normally I would be celebrating this type of calamity. Only this track season have I been rooting for them, since I've followed Maatoug for years on Netherlands videos.

I would have switched hands if I were on the inside lane out of caution.

So two switches instead of zero for the same result? PSA, leave the GD baton in your left hand the entire way.

Can anybody here make any argument ever for having the baton in your right hand? I’ve never heard one, yet everyone does it in NCAA.

That’s a sucky way to lose. Pretty much the same as a FG kicker missing a 25 yard field goal as time expires.

Except the blame lies with the coaches, not the athlete buckling to pressure.

Right hand dominate people naturally use their right hand. Most people are right hand dominate, so most use their right hand. If you watch enough videos you’ll see some people using their left hand. If you use your non dominate hand you may throw it without contact as you’re sprinting. The odds of getting the baton knocked out are so low it’s never worth it to switch it up. I’ve never seen a baton knocked out of someone’s hand outside of exchange zone chaos where batons and bodies go flying.

Yup. Twice now I have been in a situation where we only needed 2 or 3 points in the 4x4 to wrap up the overall team title irrespective of how any other teams finished. And both times even thought we were one of the top seeds I told my guys just get the stick around as safely as possible. I was more worried about a trip or a pulled muscle, as bad exchanges and dropped batons are rarer in the 4x4 than the 4x1. We also once lost a team title by 1 point were a guy who qualified for an 8 man final and would have scored a point just for finishing dead last but was DQ’ed for a false start. I personally have not had to do it (yet) but know coaches who in XC have to tell their top guy not to go for an individual title and risk blowing up and putting the team title in jeopardy. Situations like this are unfortunate, but if you coach long enough they do happen.

The Miami runner clearly knocked it out of her hand

And when she knocked it out of her hand the form of her left arm was clearly different than her normal running form

I'm not saying she intentionally did it

But in the moment she clearly had some awareness of the baton being there and changed her motion of her arm

And she clearly knocked the baton out with the palm of her hand

And no one runs with the palm of their hand going backwards like that

And it was clearly a different motion that her normal running form

Therefore Duke should be given second place

can someone post the next several minutes from the live stream so we can see the team and coach reactions?

"That Duke female coach was standing there inside the first turn on Thursday night, hustling to the edge of the track and shouting instructions to Maatoug on literally every lap. Then after the race ended she threw her arms to the air in celebration, but it looked like quite a bit of arrogance also...."

I remember noticing this aspect during European Championships last summer. Their runners aren't always the fastest but they've obviously been schooled at holding the baton mostly in front of them with a fairly compact arm swing. Most of them have basically the same technique. The only one who flails wildly behind her back like a collegian is the glam gal Alica Schmidt from Germany:

I've seen a baton dropped outside of the exchange zone at least a dozen times. You must not watch much track.

The Duke runner has terrible running form. The way she Carrie’s her arms is a perfect storm for this kind of thing to happen. Unfortunate, but it was a disaster waiting to happen.

As this thread makes clear (as well as a thread on a certain runner's inability to understand tangents), runners aren't always the sharpest tool in the box.

To me this is on the coaches as well. You need 2 or 3 points and like a 3:42 or something. You tell the team whatever you do, don’t get DQed and don’t drop the baton. That’s literally the message going into the race.

It’s like needing 2 points in a football game on the last drive. Don’t make any crazy plays and protect the ball and get into Fg range.

Both to blame here. The anchor leg messed up big time. The coaches should have reminded her though that she could have ran a 60 and easily won.

I’m not understanding the logic. If Miami knocked it out intentionally out Miami should be DQed. But it was too close and didn’t really look intentional. You can see something happen to her face when the baton gets knocked out but I think that’s more of a “what just happened and what did I hit” kind of thing.

Counterpoints:
-The distance the baton travels (or when it crosses the finish line) has no effect on the race, time, or result. It doesn’t matter at all.

-Fair point on risking a drop on the hand switch, though really rare since it happens in front of the runner and out of danger and the runner is entirely in control (unlike an exchange, where two runners are simultaneously in control). Most runners are far more comfortable carrying in their dominant hand, which is why they switch. If they naturally felt comfortable carrying in their left, I’m sure they would.
I’ll also add that carrying in the left necessitates a left-to-left exchange which usually means reaching across the lane to some degree, with the non dominant hand, risking a drop.

- Getting the baton knocked out by another runner is just as likely if both carry it in their left. The only difference is it’s the outside runner in danger rather than the inside. In the ACC example, it would have been the Miami runner who may have lost it.

At EVERY level, not just the NCAA, this is how batons are carried. World records are set with left hand carries. The level of comfort in carrying with a dominant hand and exchanging right-to-left far outweighs the negatives.