Winner of 3200 at Iowa State HS meet stripped of title - It's given to guy who was leading after 7 laps

How about this:

To the kids that ran the whole distance, their placing stands. For the kids that ran only 7 laps, line up and run a 400m - and resume the placings with their results in the 400.

Obviously only for placing - not to "add" to their 2800m time.

How can a race official deem that a race is completed before its end? Seems like a slippery slope to me.

I've seen athletes stop early only to realize they (or their coach) miscounted. EVERY TIME, they've jumped back in the race and accepted the fact that they screwed up and dealt with their placing/time without impacting those who knew the lap count.

I was there also. Two kids were leading and one kept going. That kid crossed the line at 2800 meters after the declared winner. Everyone could have lived with the goofy results had it not been for the change in 1st place.

So if I know I can't win, I should just kick a lap early and act like I thought I was finishing. And they will award me the winner? LMAO wow Iowa....

um...........what? These are the actual results? If they are ruling the race completed after 7 laps, why not just use their 7-lap finishing time? If they are worried about the computer system flagging the winning time as a new state record, how is that problem solved by giving the winner a 1:00 time? And what about everybody after 10th place? Did they actually not finish or did their times just not matter?

Sorry forgot to quote your post. Refer to my previous post.

I yell splits and laps at my kids. This would have been ugly had my son been in the race cruising along in 7th place listening to me, then to be passed by 2 guys on the final stretch and kept going with a normal last lap kick. He would have been declared the 9th place finisher.

Is the bell even mentioned in the rules? It's not an official part of the race, correct? Because if it's not part of the rules, then basically they're saying, "it's an eight lap race, unless most of the kids decide to run seven laps, in which case it's a seven lap race."

This is honestly the worst decision I've ever heard of in a running contest. If this decision stands like this, every person involved should be fired, from the timer to the head of the state athletic association.

lkmn wrote:

I did not know counting to EIGHT was such a challenge in Iowa high schools?

rojo can't count to eight, and cannot spell eight.

This exact scenario happened at the women's DIII national championships in the 5k. The lap counter was off by one the whole race and the bell rang a lap early. In my mind, they rightly gave the title to the woman who finished first at 4800m, but ultimately finished 3rd. I'm not sure about high school, but in the NCAA I believe the official rules state that there is one lap to go when the bell rings.

https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20851918/lap-counting-mistake-mars-womens-5000-meters-at-diii-national-champio/

Here is the relevant section from the NCAA rulebook:

"Adequate lap scorers must be provided to accurately count laps by recording the

time over each lap of the athletes or teams for whom the lap scorer is responsible.

A lap scorer shall be appointed to notify each competitor or team of the number

of laps that still need to be completed. This shall apply for a distance race of more

than two laps or each leg within a relay race. The lap scorer shall ring a bell when

the event leader begins his or her final lap. The lap scorer(s) shall confirm to the

head umpire, through an appropriate reporting method, that all competitors have

completed the prescribed number of laps."

Someone gives out awards for running random distances? 3200m is not an event. Neither is 2800m. Both are equally valid and invalid. These losers signed up to run a nonsensical non-standard race.

You get what you deserve, which is nothing!

This happen at the PA state meet about a fifteen years ago during the indoor mile. Bell got rung a lap early and most of the field reacted and kicked, a few kids knew what was up and ran the right way. Kids who went early kicked and leaned at the line then stopped while the other kids just cruised right by. Winner was the kid who ran 8 laps, a rerun after the meet was offered and two kids took them up on it.

This is precisely why they should do away with any/all track events longer than 1 lap . . .

In Iowa . . .

and Kentucky . . .

Raysism wrote:

Is the bell even mentioned in the rules? It's not an official part of the race, correct? Because if it's not part of the rules, then basically they're saying, "it's an eight lap race, unless most of the kids decide to run seven laps, in which case it's a seven lap race."

This is honestly the worst decision I've ever heard of in a running contest. If this decision stands like this, every person involved should be fired, from the timer to the head of the state athletic association.

I coach in PA and in our state the rules follow the NFHS rules where a bell is required for races 800 and up. Yes they ring the bell in an 800.

Mistakes happen. Races have been 'over' a lap early many, many times.

The second mistake here, though, was that they awarded the race to the wrong guy. The third mistake is "Iowa" in general.

Unfortunate for the runners who stopped early, but I assume there was a clock and they could tell by the running time that they were a lap early.

Regardless, the onus of lap count should fall on the athletes. One runner was able to figure this out and should be the rightful winner.

This actually happened to team of mine and we were well ahead at the time of the error and I tried to argue that had mistake not occurred, we most likely would've won. I was told "it's unfortunate, but runners are responsible for their own lap count AND we can't rule on a hypothetical so the results stand".

It sucks, but schit happens.

After thinking about this, I think the only logical rule is:

The race shall conclude at the end of the bell lap.

Even if the bell is incorrectly rang, you hear the bell, you start working and kicking because that is going to be that. Whether it's a 2800 or, perhaps more likely due to laps and lapped runners, a 4800 in an indoor 5000, you know that the bell ringer has the authority.

This would allow coaches to teach athletes a simple lesson: When the bell rings there's one lap left. Even if you think it is wrong, there IS one lap left. Even if you KNOW it is wrong, there IS one lap left.

The converse is much more complicated. Teaching kids to ignore something that everyone else believes is correct, to let the field run away from you, to trust that you have the lap count right (which could be 25 laps indoors)... that's a tougher lesson.

Obviously having people count correctly (which they almost always do) is ideal. The rule is about when someone screws up and how do we proceed.

The IAHSAA just announced that they will name Joe co-champion in the 3200. I am glad the association realized their mistake.

RossiCheated wrote:

Whether it's a 2800 or, perhaps more likely due to laps and lapped runners, a 4800 in an indoor 5000, you know that the bell ringer has the authority.

Why did you even write this??? You're just encouraging him! He's the worst bell ringer ever.

And now thanks to your comment (because I can only imagine an incompetent high school track bell ringer is all over the LRC message boards) I guarantee he's got a custom t-shirt that says in block letters

YOU KNOW THAT THE BELL RINGER HAS THE AUTHORITY

I imagine he gets pulled over for speeding, and the cop says "The speed limit is 60 miles per hour." And Quasimodo says "Yeah I know, but I wasn't going to be out that long." (credit to Stephen Wright)

Aight bet now imma troll meets and ring the bell right after the gun goes off or whenever i fkin feel like it.