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

Wasn't excusing it. Wasn't necessarily justifying it, either. Again, by the letter of the rule, they interfered, and they should be disqualified, and I'm sure the three-coach panel looked at it the same way and applied the rule appropriately.

I still stand by the fact that I do not think the spirit of the rule was for disqualifications in this particular scenario, though, where nothing was changed in terms of placing or points by the interference.

(Class of 2007).

i still maintain that there is no way this should be a DQ.

UNH, the team that was still running was 8+ seconds back. they were so slow and so far back that people forget they were in the race. that's their fault.

there should be consequences for the team that doesn't involve the innocent relay team getting DQd for actions of other people.

The Albany coach probably lost a big bonus for winning because of this stupid ruling.

I hear you - I'm just saying that while you perceive the spirit of the rule to be to ensuring no negative impact on the points scored in a race or at a meet, I see the spirit of the rule to be to ensure that the competitors in the events are able to compete. Albany impeded the ability of the athlete to compete. In my view, they therefore violated the spirit of the rule (as I interpret that spirit).

Since joining the conference, I was never a fan of Albany track, not because they were dominant (I respect the powerhouse kind of team), but because they always seemed arrogant as a whole. A core group of athletes gave off a bad impression for the entire team, and I didn't like it, and it seems like the rest of the conference would agree. Clearly you have some humility and aren't part of that arrogant group.

I'm proud that we put ourselves in the position to win the meet in the 4x4. I'm proud that we won conference. It sucks that it had to take something like this. I feel for the Albany 4x4. Those kids stepped up when they needed to and pulled together a clutch performance, only to have it ruined by their teammates. It is absolutely the right call. It's just unfortunate. At the end of the race, a group of Albany athletes came to the group of UML athletes and alum that I was with and shook our hands and congratulated us on a hard fought meet and told us that we're the real deal. Those are the kids that the rest of the team should follow. Those were the kids that seemed the most distraught by the DQ, not even the kids that caused the DQ. I feel for them too.

Overall, crazy ending to a meet and I've never seen anything like this. I look forward to the first outright track win for Lowell that doesn't come with any questions and I look forward to a new rivalry with Albany. Outdoors should be exciting.

I've never quite understood the Albany hate in the America East. Coach Vives might be one of the best guys in the entire sport - really their entire coaching staff is full of great people. Sure, they take the conference championships pretty seriously, but that's what makes it feel important. What fun what it be if you didn't care about your conference meet? 98% of athletes in the NCAA will never make an NCAA championship, so why wouldn't you treat the conference meet like a national championship?

In terms of the ruling, it's definitely the right call based on the current set of rules. Sucks, but that's life.

I just want to pitch in that the announcer for the meet video did an awesome job in conveying the ongoing battle for the title. Fair and informed commentary, every event came across as important in the overall outcome. Other track commentators, including those for the big networks, could take a lesson from this video. Bravo!

It appears that Albany is boycotting nationals over this horrible miscarriage of justice.

http://www.rtspt.com/ncaa/d1indoor18/men_accepted.htm

but they were done wrote:

i still maintain that there is no way this should be a DQ.

UNH, the team that was still running was 8+ seconds back. they were so slow and so far back that people forget they were in the race. that's their fault.

there should be consequences for the team that doesn't involve the innocent relay team getting DQd for actions of other people.

The Albany coach probably lost a big bonus for winning because of this stupid ruling.

Dude. Coach's bonuses has absolutely nothing to do with this argument lol.

Also, yeah UNH was pretty far back. So what? They snuck in the faster heat and got crushed, but even with the interference, they still managed to beat three other teams and maybe would've had a chance to beat binghampton (whoever that is) if it weren't for the ignorance/inattentiveness of the Albany athletes - UNHs season best was two seconds faster than their finishing time.

The idea that a team that doesn't finish first doesn't deserve the opportunity at a fair competition is absurd. Pay attention, respect the competition, and stay off the track when you aren't racing. This isn't rocket science. Sucks for the 4x4 guys, but you're blaming the wrong group. If I was on that 4x4, I wouldn't be pissed at the officials, I'd be pissed at my teammates for acting like a bunch of idiots.

Clever.

They have actually had nationals qualifiers in the past (including a freshman who qualified in the javelin last season, I believe), and have had a few All Americans (Joe Green 400 hurdles, a pole vaulter, maybe one other that I cannot think of - maybe Gered Burns in the 800m). They have also had an Olympic Trials qualifier in the high hurdles in the early 90s (Jeff York) when they were D3, and an Olympian (Grace Claxton ran the 400 hurdles for Puerto Rico in Rio and advanced past the prelims (when she was still on the team), and is running the 400m indoor at worlds in England this season), which isn't too bad for a program that was D3 when I graduated in 1994.

Actually, when you consider that they only moved to D1 about 20 years ago, that is relatively impressive.

Lowell's first track conference title will forever have a massive asterisk. In their hearts, they all know they lost the meet fair and square.

Their coach should have given Albany the trophy. It's embarrassing that they are keeping the trophy and will be putting it on display.

At least the Albany athletes know that they didn't actually lose.

No they didn't win. They lost fair and square. I'm sure UML coaches aren't thrilled with the way it ended either, but it's not their fault that Albany's team wasn't smart enough to avoid getting DQd. They don't owe Albany a dammm thing. Show some respect for the sport, your teammates, and your fellow competitors next time. These are college athletes, not children. Stay off the track, don't interfere with the race, this is common sense stuff.

Albany won fair but not square.

UML won square but not fair.

NBA Finals, Game 7, 1 point game, clock running down, player from trailing team shoots and misses as the buzzer sounds, but a fouls is called. He sinks both free throws and his team wins the game and he Finals. Replay shows he flopped without being touched. In that scenario, who is the NBA champion? The team whose player sunk the free throws. And that's a scenario when the call was technically wrong. Here it is technically right.

I mean, if I'm UML, I'm not printing up any "2017 America East Indoor Champions" t-shirts, because I'd feel a bit sheepish about how I won the title, but I would've won the title.

Smoove wrote:

NBA Finals, Game 7, 1 point game, clock running down, player from trailing team shoots and misses as the buzzer sounds, but a fouls is called. He sinks both free throws and his team wins the game and he Finals. Replay shows he flopped without being touched. In that scenario, who is the NBA champion? The team whose player sunk the free throws. And that's a scenario when the call was technically wrong. Here it is technically right.

I mean, if I'm UML, I'm not printing up any "2017 America East Indoor Champions" t-shirts, because I'd feel a bit sheepish about how I won the title, but I would've won the title.

You're absolutely right, UML should not print any 2017 America East Indoor Champions t-shirts. Albany won that meet fair and square.

But they can print as many 2018 America East Indoor Champions t-shirts as they'd like.

When you enter a sporting competition, you agre to comply with the rules. I can’t believe how many people complain about the enforcement of rules. If a team runs on the field in the middle of a football game, it is a penalty,m. If a coach yells at he ref in a basketball game, it is a technical foul. If a team runs on the track during a track event, it is a DQ of the team for that event. Would people be complaining if the team ran out of the exchange zone on the last handoff and were disqualified? If officials choose to enforce only the rules that they like, you no longer have a defined competition.

If you are going to try to be pedantic, you might want to tighten up your "can v. should" game some.

the athletes that got DQed were done. They finished the race without any infractions. Punish the people who interfered with that runner. Not the relay team who won fair and square.

That would be like DQing the guy from Albany who won the 60h for someone else on his team false starting in the 60h prelims.

It's stupid.

but they were done wrote:

the athletes that got DQed were done. They finished the race without any infractions. Punish the people who interfered with that runner. Not the relay team who won fair and square.

That would be like DQing the guy from Albany who won the 60h for someone else on his team false starting in the 60h prelims.

It's stupid.

That's a terrible comparison. It would be more like DQing the guy from Albany who won the 60h for someone else on his team running into another hurdler during the race - which would also be the right call.

Is it fair to the Albany athletes that ran the 4x4? Of course not. But they are part of a bigger team. When an offense gets flagged for excessive celebration in the NFL, the defense/special teams is the one who has to deal with the penalty. By your logic, that isn't fair either. After all, the defense/special team units weren't even on the field, so why should they be punished?

It's a bad argument. The Albany TEAM was punished for an infraction during the 4x4 event. Don't like it? Stay off the f--ing track next time. Duh.

Looks like the Great Danes are exacting some vengeance, although the meet is still not over.