Saugus wins CA state title

According to one of Simi Valley's Facebook pages, they will make the trip to NXN along with Saugus and La Costa Canyon.

Wow! Saugus's finish must of been something to watch. The results have their 2-6 runners within five seconds of each other at split 2. Amazing pack running!

Describe the crime wrote:

Unbelievable wrote:

Sorry, but Saugus made no protest. The Saugus coach was actually advocating for the reinstatement of Barr so that Simi could be go to NXN with them.

Saugus was actually getting blown out of the water in that race, then ran an incredible last mile to pull ahead of Simi, La Costa and Redondo. The runner Barr tried to impede was Saugus' #2. With her scoring, the end result would have been 70-79 Saugus. An 18-point turnaround from last week.

If anyone actually saw the foul, please explain it. How blatant was it? Intent to harm? Any first hand details on what warrented the DQ would be great.

Shall we assume that nobody actually saw the foul? Was this just a decision of an official.

XC is a physical sport. It would seem that a DQ foul would be a significant action unless an official overreacted.

Did anyone actually see what the foul looked like?

Just after?

sc42 wrote:

That does not make sense. Baxter can go as an individual to NXN, or she can run the FL west if she chooses. She didn't do either last year, so I don't think you can accuse her coach of exploiting her. Illogical.

Wrong, Baxter will be forced to go to NXN with the team.

Last year the coach burnt her out during the season, trying to get the team to quality for NXN. The team did not qualify, and Baxter did not go to Footlocker Nationals.

Now the same thing again this year sets the pattern.

vampiredog wrote:

http://www.vcstar.com/photos/galleries/2011/nov/26/slight-misstep/33263/

Just after?

That was not a cause for DQ.

vampiredog wrote:

http://www.vcstar.com/photos/galleries/2011/nov/26/slight-misstep/33263/

Just after?

That's before whatever happened, as the split time results page shows Barr finishing two seconds behind Jauregui (the girl who is about to pass her). Oddly, three more girls finished in between Jauregui and Barr.

You can kind of see it here in this video on runnerspace. Here's why Barr was DQ'd, she almost ran Jauregui into the ladder at the finish.

dq here wrote:

http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&event_id=1103&video_id=55897

You can kind of see it here in this video on runnerspace. Here's why Barr was DQ'd, she almost ran Jauregui into the ladder at the finish.

That does look pretty aggressive. Certainly more than just a "strong arm." That definitely should have been called.

I hope the Simi coach has good enough character to stand up and say to her, "That's not the way we do things in our program." I realize he probably didn't see it happen, but now that it's visible, that course should be taken.

I understand things get done in the heat of competition that people just simply wouldn't do under more carefully controlled and considered settings, but that definitely crossed the line over into obstruction. I am not saying the girl in question is an evil person, but it was unacceptable behavior on the cross country course.

Judging by what is visible here, I believe the NXN selection committee needs to take this into account and not simply give Simi a pass on the DQ.

On a lighter note, I have never seen anything more inspiring than what the Saugus girls did yesterday. The team lost five out of their seven runners from 2010 and still pulled off the win against the toughest division in the country. The elder Frankian is a great talent up front and Jauregui lead that pack of teammates to this championship. I believe many owe Rene an apology for all the hateful words they expressed in another thread here. Congrats to the coaches, girls and everyone else that made this happen.

Seeing the video, it is evident that the girl from Saugus is at fault, more-so than Barr, anyway. Look how she cuts Barr off right at the end, forcing Barr to short-step, losing balance. The arm swing by Barr is simply a result of trying to retain balance.

Barr couldn't have even seen the Saugus girl in that short time frame whereas the girl from Saugus was clearly surging with the intent of catching Barr. I highly doubt the Saugus girl meant to trip Barr, but that was the result.

People do things they normally wouldn't under pressure of getting a state title. Ideally, CIF would have avoided all this controversy (which degrades from the fun of the sport and the hard work all these girls have put into it) and not DQ'd anyone. Regardless, Barr is clearly the victim in the situation and if the appeal had gone through the Saugus girl should have been eliminated instead.

On another note, what is the point of having any sort of appeal process is "judgement calls" are not grounds for appeal? No one would try to appeal an objective call but this was absolutely the subjective call of a race official. I am disappointed in CIF more than anyone. Without the athletes they are nothing. Don't beat your own slaves.

Seeing the video, it is evident that the girl from Saugus is at fault, more-so than Barr, anyway. Look how she cuts Barr off right at the end, forcing Barr to short-step, losing balance. The arm swing by Barr is simply a result of trying to retain balance.

Barr couldn't have even seen the Saugus girl in that short time frame whereas the girl from Saugus was clearly surging with the intent of catching Barr. I highly doubt the Saugus girl meant to trip Barr, but that was the result.

People do things they normally wouldn't under pressure of getting a state title. Ideally, CIF would have avoided all this controversy (which degrades from the fun of the sport and the hard work all these girls have put into it) and not DQ'd anyone. Regardless, Barr is clearly the victim in the situation and if the appeal had gone through the Saugus girl should have been eliminated instead.

On another note, what is the point of having any sort of appeal process is "judgement calls" are not grounds for appeal? No one would try to appeal an objective call but this was absolutely the subjective call of a race official. I am disappointed in CIF more than anyone. Without the athletes they are nothing. Don't beat your own slaves.

Seriously? Barr and Jauregui were battling the entire last 200 meters, Barr knew she was there. Had Jauregui not cut in front of Barr, she might have hit the latter. As for Barr, she was at fault and should of been DQ'd. She gave the strong elbow before she even lost her balance.

You can't be serious, right?

You don't have to see someone to cut that person off. In fact, once you see them it's too late to cut them off. You feel them, you hear them, but you don't see them. You might see their shadow, but you don't see them until they're by. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been in a race and had someone who couldn't see me cut me off. It's pretty easy to do.

Barr is no victim. She swings the elbow (about 1:42 in the video), then, failing there, she moves hard over (about 1:44) into Saugus, so hard, in fact, she loses her balance and falls.

You're seriously trying to say that Saugus decided her best course of action (all the while closing rapidly on Simi) was to get mixed up with Simi--from behind?! At the rate she was going, she was clearly going to get around, and the less contact the better so far as Saugus would be concerned.

Simi parent?

I have no rooting interest for either team and was skeptical about the DQ until seeing the video.

Ouch, that's a silly DQ. Barr was running an ill advised line to the finish, but she held the same line the entire way in. The Saugus girl tried to sneak by on the right rather than take the clear path to the left. Yes, Barr leaned into her but there was no (stiff arm) and it's nowhere near as egregious as all the track runners who move into lane three to force people out who aren't called for it. Seriously, watch Barr's line to the finish form before the Saugus girl even moves up on her. It's a bad line but it's consistent. No official in NCAA or USATF or IAAF calls that and only one in a hundred high school officials call it. I wouldn't want my runners running that way but it's not a good DQ. Officials have to sign dq slips. I wonder who put his name on that and how likely he would be to get another job at the state meet if it became public. There should be some accountability to this. (BTW- long time Saugus fan here.)

Yes, that's called racing. NO DQ there.

Here is something interesting. If you DQ Jauregui instead of Barr and insert Barr according to her chip time of 18:35, Saugus still comes out on top.

Simi 79

1 Baxter

11 Vernola

17 Barr

21 Riggs

29 Vinas

Saugus 72

2 Frankian

14 Frankian

15 McCall

20 Huntington

21 Hoslet

If you go a step further and move Barr up to Jauregui's finishing position of 14 when the DQ occured, Saugus still comes away with 2-point victory. Incredible running by Saugus.

Wow, I agree. Nothing that warrants a DQ there. I would say either equal fault, or just the way things go in racing. It wasn't a blatant foul. You rarely see a DQ from that exact same situation in most other meets.

Unless a video from the front, or closer up shows something else, it sounds like an official over-reacted.

I agree. I've coached here and it sucks that by the time Cal teams have reached the National level, they are spent and over raced. No other state has the competition we go through just to get to CIF, let alone state. And if you're from the southern section it's even worse. Push the season back 2 weeks, giving more time to recover and train for a State/Nationals peak and you'd see more Cal teams placing much higher at Nationals. Then they would have to allow more California teams at NXN, as they should if they want a true National Final.

First of all, how did Barr finish 10 seconds behind Jenay? They crossed the line together. But yes, awesome running by Saugus. Textbook discipline.