Maryland HS Star Brody Buffington DQed Again Unacceptable Celebration

He deserves it. He is in the smallest division in the state with NO competition.

If he celebrated when he beat Nyckoles Harbor, fine. If he celebrates against 11.9 runners then he's a tool.

I prefer a more humble approach, but those DQs are ridiculous.

Celebration wasn't excessive

We're holding high schoolers to higher standards than olympians. Usain Bolt did this in half of his races. Noah Lyles stares down Knighton in several races. But this is what is too far?

Officials on power trips are a plague on youth sports in this country.

So it's a rule that says "no celebration until you cross the finish line?" Seems his celebrations are during the race, not after, so making assumption of what rule they're enforcing.

Good lord. Nothing like killing the kid's enthusiasm for the sport.

Is it the other coaches that are calling this guy out and getting him DQ’d or is it the officials being overly reactive….seems like it’s actually the other coaches which is sort of a crappy way to get more points for you team.

I watched the video. It was a bit much, especially for a guy who should know, by this point, not to do that.

You can certainly argue that this is excessive enforcement but given that he was DQ-ed for the same thing before, he was basically daring them to do it again. And they did.

And, it was, imo, borderline disrespectful given this was a gross mismatch.

It's the officials, not the other coaches. Brody is celebrating before he crosses the line and you can see an official in red immediately throw his hands up in disgust.

Regardless, high schools have different rules than NCAA and pro sports. You can celebrate a touchdown more in the NFL than you can in high school.

He is a 20.7 athlete who outkicked a runner who runs 22.7. Do you really need to celebrate that? It's totally classless. Grow up, kid.

Does anyone know if this is the relevant rule?

4-6 ART. 1... Unsporting conduct is behavior that is unethical or dishonorable. It includes, but is not limited to: disrespectfully addressing an official, any flagrant behavior, intentional contact, taunting, criticizing or using profanity directed toward someone. This shall apply to all coaches, contestants and other team/school personnel.

PENALTY: Disqualification from that event and further competition in the meet. Disqualification of a coach or other school personnel shall be from further involvement in the meet.

2023 NFHS Track And Field And Cross Country Rules Book - NFHS

I did also notice that NFHS has made sportsmanship the main priority this year.

Good sporting behavior is one of the fundamental ingredients to the continued success and enjoyment of education-based high school sports and activities. In fact, in the 103-year history of organized high school sports in the United States, good sportsmanship has been one of the most important outcomes of high school activity programs.

NFHS playing rules are written to encourage sportsmanship. Participation in these programs should promote respect, integrity and sportsmanship. However, for these ideals to occur, everyone involved in these programs must be doing their part.

The NFHS is concerned that unsporting behavior in education-based athletics has increased across all sports. As a result, the NFHS has made sportsmanship the No. 1 Point of Emphasis for the 2022-23 school year.

4.6.2 is the cited violation.

Since the rule book is absurdly not online and miust be *purchased* apparently, I don't know the actual text.

what is unsporting about this? he raises his arms up. He doesn't get in anyones face or taunt anyone.

If anyone watched the ACC outdoors champs, Judson Lincoln IV got in a clemson athletes face and started talking trash after winning the 400. That's a DQ i dont have a real problem with as he was directly taunting another athlete. Buffington is just raising his arms out to the crowd, not another athlete.

Thanks. This is 4.6.2 below.

ART. 2... Unacceptable conduct by a competitor includes, but is not limited to: willful failure to follow the directions of a meet official, using profanity that is not directed at someone or any action which could bring discredit to the individual or the competitor's school.

PENALTY: Disqualification from that event.
2023 NFHS Track And Field And Cross Country Rules Book - NFHS © 2023

I can't see the new video because I don't have milesplit but I remember his ridiculous celebration indoors. If it was anything like that one, he deserves to be DQ'ed. Seriously, this guy can't take a hint? This time was even worse because he got his relay teammates DQ'ed, not just himself.

Complete bonehead.

so i'm guessing the justification is that the official either talked to him and his coach separately or mentioned specifically "no celebrating at all" during the pre-race instructions? Still idiotic

The MD State meet is 2 days and Brody qualified for the Saturday finals in the 100 and 200. It seems to me like 4.6.1 may be more applicable than 4.6.2, but I guess they didn't want to DQ him from the finals as well?

The video above was behind a paywall but I was able to find it elsewhere.

The celebration seemed pretty innocuous to me. I’ve seen more outward displays in high school meets before. I agree with the other poster that mentioned they prefer a more humble approach. Just run, do your job, congratulate your competitors, and celebrate with your team after the race. Be classy. But, again, this DQ seemed unwarranted.

That said, a rule is a rule and they must be applied evenly or not applied at all.

ridiculous, don't let them have fun is not a great approach to building a sport back up