Unbelievable!! Albany Loses Conference Championship due to EPIC DQ!!

wejo wrote:

Albany clearly won the race and the Albany team did what teams do storm the track with emotion.

Do teams do this? Never saw this in college, where we had an opponent win the conference for years 5, 6, 7, and 8 of their streak. We didn't do it while I was in high school when we won ours for 5, 6, 7, and 8, with the last one coming down to the 4x400. We expected to win. If we would have lost, we would have went home DEVASTATED.

I didn't watch carefully enough to see the impedance, but in 10 years of track I never was seriously interfered with by a non-competitor. If there were ever more than two people at least one saw me and kept them both out of the way. It's hard for me to feel that bad that they couldn't police themselves.

UNH dude so far back "we didn't catch it with our cameras."

Sheesh.

Too bad UNH couldn't "decline" the penalty or some such...

That said, "that'll teach you" re: too-early celebration. Feel bad for all involved. Epic race. Loved how announcers talked about "you won't see THAT every day" and "a moral victory" etc. etc.

Footage of the offending feet at 5:53:03 (look like ladyfeet, btw)

Official's reaction, beginning of the end, at 5:53:05, as announcer yells

"Champions do what champions do!"

Star wrote:

That is epic.

Normally I don't care for DQs that really don't affect the end result.

But you have to uphold the DQ.

You can't run onto the track and interfere with a runner who hasn't finished, even accidentally.

That's just dumb of the athletes who did that.

Yea, agreed, never want to blow your load too early.

There are bodies from all the teams on the outer lanes throughout the race, but at 5:52:56 a kid in purple (Albany) jumps up and runs across the track (before the UNH anchor comes around), and this "opens the floodgates" of other Albany kids to cross the track as well. While of course this kid is not wholly responsible, his action triggered the domino effect for the rest of the team.

It will be interesting in the future to see how this meet is managed with regard to feet on the track during events. Allowing non-participants to spectate from the outer lanes contributed to the end result.

Ray wrote:

Easy solution? For championship meets, demand that all non-competing athletes and coaches are banned from the infield.

But they could still storm the track from the outer area or stands.

Easy solution? They did the easy solution. DQ a team if any teammates step on the track during a race - specifically if they interfere with any competitor.

This is not a problem that has to be solved or needs any innovation.

You can not interfere with any competitor - ever.

This never happens because by the time you get to college, every single track athlete knows better.

I can tell one thing from this thread, the other teams really dislike Albany. I know nothing about their behavior at meets, but even if they were perfectly behave the other teams probably wouldn't like them as they get sick of losing all the time. When I was in college, people talked bad about Penn and Princeton (who won). When my brother was coaching at Cornell and they were winning all the time with Cornell, people talked bad about Cornell and Princeton.

I remember a tri-meet in college that game down to the 4x400 and final straight. People were so excited at the end a fight actually broke out after one guy celebrate too much. When a conference meet is won on the final event and the other competitors think the race is over I have no problem with them storming the track.

Can someone show me the exact rule that explains why a DQ should be given? Let's say it was an individual race and the team stormed the track. You then DQ all that teams runners in the race? I'm just saying it may seem obvious to DQ the team, but I'd like to see the rule.

"Can someone show me the exact rule that explains why a DQ should be given? Let's say it was an individual race and the team stormed the track. You then DQ all that teams runners in the race? I'm just saying it may seem obvious to DQ the team, but I'd like to see the rule."

To wejo, from the NCAA rulebook:

SECTION 5. Running Violations

All Races

ARTICLE 1: When a competitor commits a flagrant foul in a race to aid a teammate, all persons from the offending team in that event shall be disqualified. Interference by a coach or a teammate not in the event shall also apply. Such an infraction shall be reported by the umpire and ruled on by the referee.

Not sure if this could be any more clear. I'm not here to post an opinion on who deserves to win the meet, but the rulebook makes it clear it should be a DQ.

I look forward to stocking up on UMass Lowell shirts, and strategically deploying groups onto the track to get DQs for UML winners.

#fair_play

My Sophomore year of college, the conference changed the rules and instead of automatically giving each team an entry into the relays they made you manually submit the team. Our coach didn't pick up on that change and they wouldn't allow any of our relays to compete( we have always been the favorites... they hated us).. The conference had a meeting and the conference denied our appeal to have our relays race the meet. So we rallied and lost conference by 2 points.. with no relays at all. Us the student athletes, were punished for something we didn't even have a say in.. we were judged by a bunch of old men and lost because of it.

I remember an NCAA outdoor championships in the early 90s that was decided on a 4X400 DQ.

I think it was the women's title and LSU may have been one of the teams and maybe UCLA.

One of the outgoing runners had part of her foot over the relay exchange line while standing and waiting for the runners to come in.

They placed well enough to clinch the team title but the flag went up, the 4X400 team was DQed and another team won the team title.

Anyone help me remember the exact year and teams involved?

It was a by-the-rule DQ and small mental mistake but no advantage was really gained.

But running onto the track and impeding a runner is more than a small mental mistake.

reformer wrote:

There have GOTTA be other penalties in track besides a DQ.

Bring back spanking/paddling.

but albany had already finished. and there was no "aid" or advantage as a result

There is no question that teammates interfered with another team’s runner. The race isn’t over when the winner crosses the line. It is over when the last team crosses the line. Otherwise teammates could interfere with runners still on the track in an attempt to impact the overall team scores.

5k was won in 14:05

Mile won in 4:06 (59 second first quarter)

400 was won in 47.4

Women’s 800 won in 2:03

And women’s 1000 won in 2:47

..yeah wouldn’t say the ENTIRE America East Conference is a joke for this one call at this one particular conference meet

Wejo give me a break. There is literally nothing at all controversial about this DQ. Storming the track and interfereing with a race is a DQ at every level from Junior High and up. Does it suck? Absolutely. But as a coach and as athletes, they should know better. These are collegiate athletes who have presumably been around track for a long time, so there are no excuses. Learn from it, move on, do better.

Prettyboy wrote:

5k was won in 14:05

Mile won in 4:06 (59 second first quarter)

400 was won in 47.4

Women’s 800 won in 2:03

And women’s 1000 won in 2:47

..yeah wouldn’t say the ENTIRE America East Conference is a joke for this one call at this one particular conference meet

please don't tell me you are impressed by those times.

only 12 boys broke 15 min on the fastest track in the country

a d3 kid just broke 4 on that track

only 2 kids ran 47 and it only took 49 low to make the final

2nd place in women's 800 was 2:09

no depth in the women's 1000 either

and literally every other event you didn't mention was trash

In attendance at the meet. Prior to the 4x4 there were numerous and I mean numerous calls for athletes to clear the infield. Coaches ushered their runners off. Once the infraction occurred an official in a green polo held up a red card. For five minutes the building was silent as many coaches were unaware for the reason for the DQ. During this time, not a single coaching staff was happy about the ending to the meet, but due to the nature of the infraction there was nothing they could do. As much as Albany did not want to lose that way, UML were not happy they won that way either which made it a little bittersweet on that end. It appeared they called the games committee together with all the head coaches, and the Conference admins running the meet to come up with a solution but everyone’s hands were tied due to the nature of the infraction. Even though in the past Albany’s athletes and some members of their coaching staff have acted foolish after wins, I can assure you no one wanted the meet to end this way.

The question is what constitutes the word "Flagrant". In 2014 the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved adding the word "flangrantly" to the rules pertaining to when a competitor should be in violation of impeding a runner. The rule now distinguishes flagrant contact or impedence from the incidental contact that can occur during running races. By all accounts the student-athletes ran accross the track to congratulate their teammates. This action did not in any way aid their teammates and any impedence was incidental.