NCAA School Rigs Last Chance Meet to Qualify for Nationals. Shameful if true.

Why? There is a video, they ran the time, it is legit.

If the athletes hit the mark during the qualifying window, why shouldn't it count?

Isn't the point of nationals to get the fastest teams? They proved they are one of the fastest teams.

If it really wasn’t on the original meet schedule and then they altered the schedule after everyone left that’s fraudulent. And I don’t think a one team “race” should count.

I was not busy at work so I decided to dig deeper and downloaded the official NCAA rulebook for indoor track and field. This definitely exists in a gray area. By my reading, they maybe violated Rule 6 Section 2a that has to do with the honest effort rules against dropping out of races. But the rule states that "Athletes must compete in all events in which they are declared, defined as a form of commitment to compete". It would appear there was not a clear commitment to compete prior to the start of the meet as no women's 4x400 was listed. So maybe it is a question of whether a women's 4x400 was even offered as an option for teams to compete in before the meet started?

There is also the Code of Conduct and it says this for Coaches, "Acts of dishonesty or unsporting conduct" can invoke reprimand or removal from the competition or event. Which sounds to me like what happened here.

The women's 4x4 was originally scheduled for 3:25 and only 1 team was entered (not Mt.Union). They scratched because there was no other team racing. T

Seems like a pretty clear cut violation of the rules then. I feel for the kids who ran the time but those rules are there for a reason.

The time is legit but they should have scheduled the race along with the rest of the meet and I did not think that a time would count if they were the only relay squad in the race, though soloing a 4x4 is very likely going to be slower than against competition even with the traffic. The dq was justified.

A violation of what rule?

What DQ?

under the conditions that are supposed to be "legal" to qualify, "they did."

i would say they violated this:

"Marks will not be acceptable if:...Contestants are given a second opportunity to compete in the same event(s) within the same meet, unless it is in accordance with the normal established advancement procedure;"

The 4x4 was scratched and then re-held. They ran the 4x4 twice.

Also, if they basically ran alone after everyone left, I don't really see that as a time at a meet, with the required amount of teams. The meet was over and it's like you ran a second meet without the quorum. You're also required to post a last chance meet, which, if you treat it like a second meet, they didn't do.

this isn't indycar on qualifying or bump day. you don't get to run as many 4x4 as you can schedule or re-schedule to make nationals. you get to hold a meet. the meet has a schedule. if the meet scratches the event for lack of interest or because you arrogantly assumed you were ok, you're done. you don't get to tack a new event at the end because you figure out you got bumped, and you happen to be host.

the easy answer to this was run at the scheduled time and not be arrogant. presumably the girls would run a similar qualifying time. and you're in.

There are very clear rules for hosting Final Qualifying meets. There are certain requirements beyond the NCAA rulebook related to finalized schedule, being posted, entries being posted, and live results. There were clearly violations to the stipulations for hosting a final qualifying meet. Probably time for division 3 to do what division 1 has already done and eliminate final qualifying meets altogether.

It’s tricky but I bet they still get it.

Back in my day I got bumped from the qualifying list. Ran a 5k at my conference meet that got me up on the NCAA list. A true conference meet, no pacers but racin’.

The MPSF runs their 5k the next day with pacers because no one cares and it isn’t a real conference meet. Those pacers take the race through 4K and 3 guys bump me down to first man out. They had more info and a good opportunity, it felt a little shady but they ran the time. I didn’t. they went to the show and I watch bitterly on tv

Why would they still get it? They ran a 4x400m not originally scheduled that was 5 hours after the meet.

I'm sure a lot is going on behind the scenes, but current entry list shows Middlebury and no Mount Union. Heat sheets just came out and neither team is listed there.

Hope NCAA does the right thing here and not reward this type of behavior. But the MU coach does have a lot of sway and when you combine that with endless pouting, I could see them being included.

To that point, can someone list out the coaches who would’ve been involved in orchestrating this for documentation purposes?

A meet time is only legit if it is run in a meet. All the video in the world does not make a time legit if it is not in a meet.

The meet was over. Everyone left. No other teams had a chance to participate.

The point of nationals is to get the fastest teams that qualify at eligible meets. That's not how this time was produced.

Same day. Meet isn't over until meet organizer says it is over.