State 1600 champ DQ'd for pacing...

Wow. She deserves to get DQ'd. You should know by that point that crap like that isn't legal. The wheelchair bitch needs to mind her own business. Why the hell was she in a state championship race anyway? "Hey, let's let the wheelchair girl roll in the girls 1600, that's the PC thing to do."

What the hell.

Where was the COACH of these 2 morons ? Sorry to call the wheelchair one a moron but being in a wheelchair is no excuse for being stupid. Sadly the least guilty party pays the biggest penalty. Coach should be fired.

Here's more info in a MD forum discussing the situation. People say the wheelchair athlete (who can compete the 1600 in around 4:00, but was apparently pacing her teammate to try to break 5:00) was slowing down, looking back, and talking to her teammate the whole race.

It's weird that she was even in the race... she has made a big stink all year about "equal rights," when obviously a wheelchair racer and a runner are not equal when it comes to racing. Good for her for wanting to compete and be part of a team, but her being in a race is dangerous for other athletes and disrupts the race - if she is in lane 2 next to a runner, another runner has to go waaay on the outside just to try to pass. Some of these girls are only 14 years old, how are they supposed to know race tactics against a wheelchair athlete?

If she wasn't already in a wheel chair and she cost me a state meet....I'd but that bitch in one.

hahaha

If you're going to allow the wheelchair girl on the track, i don't see how you can say that she cannot pace someone. Runners pace off of teammates all the time. Pacing is only illegal when it is from someone who is not in the race. If they didn't want this to happen, they should have made the wheelchair race a seperate event at a different time.

more on this wrote:

It's weird that she was even in the race... she has made a big stink all year about "equal rights," when obviously a wheelchair racer and a runner are not equal when it comes to racing.

i think the point that keeps being missed in all of these discussions is that they are two different events. it has nothing to do with "equal rights." the fact that they have wheelchair events takes care of the equal rights. letting her compete race against runners shows the ignorance of people who have absolutely NO understanding of athletics.

The wheelchair girl says she wants to compete with her friends but when she gets in this race she didn't compete, she just paced and cheered. Similar but not totally equal to having a teammate drop back a lap then peace you in, not legal.

Sounds like a South Park episode.

Is the wheelchair chick able to win the race? I am confoosed.

If an "able-bodied" runner suffers injury, stress fracture or whatever, can that runner then get in a wheelchair and compete? This has great potential!

"Pacing is only illegal when it is from someone who is not in the race. If they didn't want this to happen, they should have made the wheelchair race a seperate event at a different time."

Pacing is against the rules all the time sounds like a correct call.

Pacing is pacing. Roger Bannister was paced. This is just a new variation of an old form of cheating.

That is one majorly engineered wheelchair.

Maybe Lance can compete in the NY Marathon on his bike.

Geez . . . after seeing that photo it seems like political correctness is spinning out of control these days.

I ran high school track in Maryland many many moons ago. In fact, I almost went to Atholton (school the wheelchair athlete attends) but my parents moved to MoCo. Anyhow, I'm just curious how the wheelchair athlete was allowed in the meet. In Maryland (and tell me if the rules changed) you had to compete in the regional meet, and either finish in the top four, or meet a time standard. Looking back at the 2A regional results, I don't see her name in the 1600. How was she able to compete at the state meet if she didn't compete at the state qualifier? Seems like someone is being a little too PC letting a disabled athlete compete.

And in my college conference, we had something called an "honest effort" rule. If you didn't show honest effort in one of your races (jogging in a 10k, etc.) you'd be DQed. Somewhat subjective, but there was never really a borderline call. To me, a girl who can roll a 4:20 1600 is not showing honest effort when she rolls a 5:00, in lane two, talking to a teammate. The teammate may have been innocent, but it still looks like pacing to me.

The Athletic Director doesn't get it:

Atholton Athletic Director Chuck Fales said: "Alison doesn't need a pace car. She lost because of a technicality, in my book.

"Unfortunately, we've got to listen to what the state said. We didn't get any rules about what to do in a wheelchair. But I don't want to blame anybody. I guess we learn from our mistakes."

are bikes allowed in these races?