Harvard FORGETS to enter 2:01 800m star, LOSES conference championship by only 8

Ok I understand that angle so maybe I shouldn't have been quiet as harsh, but come on he wasn't trying to game the system.

If there was a history of this or it happened more than once then you don't allow it but that isn't what happened. Someone gaming the system is very different.

You want to win on technicalities or by being the best at something?

Do you want to teach the student athletes to be good sports?

This clearly was an honest mistake, there was some appeals process involved, and the coaches said "F U".

Have you reached out to any coaches in the league to find out what exactly that appeals process was? You probably have a lot of contacts in the league.

The vote was talked about at the facility on Friday but when the coaches meeting got underway it was never brought up for a vote. Harvard probably got the sense that either the Ivy League would not allow it or the other coaches were going to vote no anyway. But on the record the other head coaches did not vote yes/no on the Sophia mistake.

Clearly Weldon has never been to a coaches meeting.

When I started collegiate coaching, I remember learning that this was a possibility and thinking almost exactly what weldon thought (which makes sense since we have the same DNA), "What happens if we screw up the entries? Certainly, they'll let them run , right?"

I was told that most definitely would not happen and I've never heard of it being allowed.

I used to get so nervous about it every year and I wasn't even in charge of submitting them.

Unfortunately, this far from the first time this has happened and far from the first time they weren't allowed to run. But let me make two points.

1) What's interesting is, it's not clear to me her not running cost them the team title. Had she been entered in the 800, she would probably have won the 800 and knocked a Princeton girl out of the 6th. So one might assume the final score would be 170 Harvard- 167 Princeton.

But since she didn't run open, she ran BOTH relays. And they were smart about it. Leadoff on DMR and anchor of 4 x 800 so she would have more time to rest. She took them from 7th to 3rd in the 4 x 400. If she had run open, would she have run both relays? I doubt it. If she doesn't run both relays (or double individually), the probably lose by a few points to Princeton but this is me speculating without knowing about the depth of their team. Of course, maybe they were going to double her, which changes things as well.

2) Weldon I 100% used to be with you, "You have to let them run." My hearts still wants that to be the case. But now just doing a tiny bit of research, I see why they don't allow it. There are 5 women in the league this year at sub-2:04. They ended up in everything from the 500 to 3k. If an appeal was sent before entries were known, I"d allow it as it's the right thing to do. But if not, it's too dangeous of a precedent to set particularly indoors where there are so many similar events like 400/500 800/1k/mile 3k/5k, etc.

I think the idea that this would set a precedent is part of the issue at hand.

After a Harvard coach openly mocked my daughter during her introduction the Footlocker XC High School National Championships a decade ago, I have no sympathy them the mess-up. I just feel sorry for the young lady who didn’t get to run her event and potentially win a conference championship individually and as a team.

To whom down voted the previous comment. Are you against me being disappointed that a college coach would opening mock a high school athlete at a high school championship in front of a crowd. Or that I feel bad for an athlete who lost an opportunity to compete for a conference championship and help her team win a championship.

Was it a same coach that is there now? What was the mockery? Cheering for another athlete or straight up dissing your child?

I downvoted you because I think if you post something like this on a public message board you should post using your real name and provide more information on what the "mocking" entailed. This very well could have happened, but I think if you want to talk about it publicly you should stand behind what you're saying.

We need more details please.

Which coach and what did they do? How do you mock someone during an introduction?

Looking at the pictures of the coaches there now on-line it was none of them, especially since this was a decade ago. It was an older man with a younger women assistant coach. I didn't know him but asked another parent and he said that was the coach at Harvard. Which makes sense as he has on a Harvard hat and polo and was with a younger coach with same and a Harvard bag.

It was near the start where they introduce the runner one by one with a little bio about each. If you have been there before you know there is a big crowd around the start area to see the introductions and race start. I was standing near the coach in question and my daughter's bio was read and she jogged out when he very loudy announced, "she ran the f-ing "name of the race", that is f'ing idiotic, someone doesn't know the f*ck what they are doing." He said it so loud that most people within 20-30 meters where all looking to see who said that.

Afterward my daughter mentioned that she heard it as she jogged out and asked me who it was.

HAHAHAHAHA. You really think a parent is going to take their kid out of Harvard because some runner wasn't entered in the 800 at a conference meet?

You're cute.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Great post.

OF COURSE you can't suddenly change entries after you see who the other teams have put in.

So he made fun of her and/or her coach for ... running a race?

Hahaha, maybe the “younger women” [sic] could have been Priscilla Bayley during that time period but there hasn’t been an “older man” to coach distance at Harvard since Frank Haggerty over 20 years ago. If you’re thinking of Saretsky, he’s still there and would have been an “older man” a decade ago. Never happened

Is there any chance it wasn't a mistake? Did they originally not want her to run on the first day? Were they focusing on relays?
An athlete does not always run their best event. At the conference. Athletes need to run multiple events. Did they have another good runner in the event?

It is easy after the meet to find a dozen ways to get a few points. It doesn't hurt to try to get the athlete in when you see the seedings and realize what you should have done.
Hindsight is 2020.

Yes changing the lineup after the coach has seen the other teams' lineups should not be allowed.