NCAA Shot Put mismeasured? Should Florida have won?

NE Coach wrote:

It's likely that the throw might have been a 19.68, as I've seen officials record the closest meter. As an official, I've almost done the same thing when the distance is in the top half of a meter (such as 19.68). If the mark was actually the 19.68, he'd still be 2nd. The irony is that in '04, at the East Regional at Florida, Holloway almost got into a fight with a coach from Pitt, when Holloway's kid had a 3 foot "PR" and made the Finals. The Pitt kid was 6th, and his coach was mad as hell. We all saw it, and knew that it wrongly recorded. We told all of the officials, but they refused to make the correction. If Holloway was honest that day, maybe he would have had better karma lst weekend.

I rarely did the long jump but one of the first times that I did I made this mistake because I was focusing on the small part (here the .68, although if I remember correctly is was the feet that I almost got wrong focusing on the inches). It was corrected before the measurement was listed but still I was surprised at the occurrence and understand how it could happen.

In this case, (see story cited just above). Note that, unlike what was claimed about him thinking it was a mediocre throw, he states that he thought it was by far his best of the day, which included another PR.

'Speaking from Lawrence, where he is attending summer school, Finley conceded that officials botched the measurement of his best throw in Eugene. He said "no way" did he throw the shot 67-10 1/4 — or 20.68 meters. Yet after looking at the video, he won't go along with the University of Florida's argument that he didn't deserve to finish second and that the mistake cost the Gators a point in the team standings — and thus a share of the team title with Texas A&M.

"I think they added a meter," Finley said. "I think I threw 19.68 (meters). That was my best throw, by far. I knew I had a really good throw, but no way I'm going to tell you I threw it 20.68. I'm not trying to claim that distance."'

I just lost respect for young Mr. Finley. No way that throw was within a foot of the 20m line. Look at the freakin' video.

Not that he cares what I think.

I just lost respect for young Mr. Finley. No way that throw was within a foot of the 20m line. Look at the freakin' video.

I have heard a number of people say that they could not tell where is was relative to the 20m line, so your assertion that you know for sure that is was no where close to being within one foot rings a little hollow. Caveat, I have NOT seen the video, but why would he be saying it was his best throw by far and that it was not 20.68 when the result is as you state? Note that his next best throw was not that far from the Florida guy, so the statements would seem to imply that his throw was long enough not to change the outcome for 4th.

Well, the problem is if the mark was wrong, and even the thrower is saying that he thinks it was wrong, there is then absolutely no way to determine what the proper mark should have been. Maybe it was 19.68, it makes some logical sense. That doesn't mean it was. It just means we don't know. Whole mark should be thrown out.

26mi235 wrote:

I have heard a number of people say that they could not tell where is was relative to the 20m line, so your assertion that you know for sure that is was no where close to being within one foot rings a little hollow. Caveat, I have NOT seen the video, but why would he be saying it was his best throw by far and that it was not 20.68 when the result is as you state? Note that his next best throw was not that far from the Florida guy, so the statements would seem to imply that his throw was long enough not to change the outcome for 4th.

And the trap starts.

The athlete in question, knowingly or not, just called out the officials as being incompetent. Missing a mark by a meter? In what universe is that considered to be acceptable by NCAA officials, much less an all-comers meet held by a local track club? Is that acceptable at a middle school meet? And we're supposed to just assume that the athlete in question's explanation is correct? Convenient for him, and his coaches, that's for sure.

I'm guessing that he (and his coaches) would be singing a different tune if the oh so convenient one meter mark actually mattered in the meet.

I can't believe that the athlete in question even addressed it.

This is a bad situation.

And is this the only error that this group of officials made? The other competitors are supposed to believe that?

Look at the video for yourself. It's clear that something very, very foul, and wrong, occurred.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Well, the problem is if the mark was wrong, and even the thrower is saying that he thinks it was wrong, there is then absolutely no way to determine what the proper mark should have been. Maybe it was 19.68, it makes some logical sense. That doesn't mean it was. It just means we don't know. Whole mark should be thrown out.

That was my line of thinking. I manage the college stuff on athletic.net, and I threw the throw out, credited him with his next best throw.

Unless someone produces some good quality video shot from the stands, there is really no way to judge how far that throw was. I would be willing to bet that the KU coaches have such a video, and don't want to share because it wouldn't look good for them.

19.68m is not supposed to be within one foot of the 20m line, genius. What sage advice do you have next for us, oh great one?

kartelite wrote:

19.68m is not supposed to be within one foot of the 20m line, genius. What sage advice do you have next for us, oh great one?

You are kidding, right?

.32m is almost exactly one foot (3/5 of an inch over, to be precise). You can certainly see from the NCAA video that the throw is well more than one foot short of the 20m line.

Kansas coaches=pure s..t wrote:

Kansas Coaches are the prime example of whats wrong with the profession.

They don`t care as long as they get away with a good result. They don t care about teaching their kids a lesson of fair play.....

a REAL COACH and a REAL PROGRAM would have refused this tainted result.

At the Ivy League Championship, Princeton's Joel Karacozoff threw the discus 45.91. It was recorded as 49.91. When informed of the mark, Princeton's head coach Fred Samara walked over to the officials and flatly stated "my kid didn't throw that far." Karacozoff expressed his agreement with his coach. The officials still refused to change it. Once a mark is in the book, it's final (barring successful appeal). The athlete can choose to give his medal to the next person, but you can't change the official result or team scoring.