Rocky mountain’s top 2 runners DQ’d at districts for holding hands across the finish line

"Whatever happened to COMPETITION?" Said a bunch of losers whose PRs are orders of magnitude slower than these high school kids'.

They were reinstated. How is this fair to the other schools who ran within the rules. Another example of how the power schools of Idaho rule sports decisions. If this would have north Idaho they would still be out. Boise schools manipulate track and field so no other Idaho schools have a fair chance. They get kids into state who don’t even have to compete in finals.

holding hands is for the prom...you line up at the start alone, you finish alone.

Every time one of these absurd situations happens, there are idiots like this who say "rules are rules" without even knowing the rules. And every time you actually read the rules, it's at best a close call.

The rule prohibits assistance, and then specifies that grasping hands is a form of assistance. Obviously there was no assistance in this case, and it's actually hard to come up with a hypothetical scenario in which merely grasping hands could constitute assistance. If this were being litigated in court, it could come out either way. So the question then is why would an official CHOOSE to DQ someone under these circumstances. It hurt nobody, and it was in the spirit of sportsmanship and competition.

Because it's a very stupid rule and the kids at the other schools are objectively slower? Stop relying on bogus technicalities and get better at competing.

Please, this is 2023 and meets like these are FAT. THERE IS NO WAY TO TIE - NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY TRIED

Glad common sense won out here. I've seen people hold hands across the line many times before at various levels, and none of them were DQed because nobody in their right mind could think that it actually qualifies as aiding another runner. Overzealous officials who feel like they need to make themselves the center of attention are a big problem in many sports, and it's especially bad in track where most of them are over the age of 60 and can't deal with having their authority challenged.

For those stating that all rules need to be enforced, watch the last 10 seconds of a basketball game when one team is ahead by 30 and they have the ball. They travel. They double dribble. They carry the ball. I have seen guys literally walk the ball to the ref in the last few seconds. The rule says they should stop the game and call travelling and give the ball to the other team.

Hand holding aside, there are clear rules on how long a coach can protest a disqualification. The Timberline coach protested the next day, well after the 30 minute window. Meet officials missing other kids stepping on the line isn’t a defense for someone else getting disqualified. That’s what-aboutism. He broke the rules, and probably in an egregious fashion, and got disqualified. The fact that his coach was able to argue that the Rocky runners were allowed back in so his should be is insane. If his coach had an issue with other kids stepping on the line, he had plenty of time to protest that. He chose not to protest but then saw an opening the next day because of all of this and took it.

As far as there being no rail, cones were set out and the painted white line is clear. Wil Ihmels begging to get let back in on the back of this controversy is a joke. He clearly broke the rules. The only thing that is soft about his scenario is that he won’t face the consequences of that.

What a jerk you are. Must be horrible being that ignorant

You think they apply every rule exactly by the book?

Note: They were not DQ'd

Hmm, the above was referring to the 1979 OTC marathon where Tony Sandoval and Jeff Wells held hands across the finish line. For some reason the post got rejected etc.

You are correct about officials being lenient or lax generally during the season. I was at multiple State meets as a lane/curve judge. Several years we faced coaches uprisings on obvious rule violations: line or hurdle leg dragging. Last year I worked it was so bad on a Friday (coaching cat calls, pushing-like football or basketball), some chose not to come back the next day. I blame head officials and administrators for not making protocols clear in season, and emphasized prior to championship meets.

You sound mad…..You mad?

Most of the time, guys holding hands should definitely be a DQ, but not in this case. They are just kids. Glad they've fixed this.