Saturday, May. 31, 2008

More about Star Track DQ

The saga that is Nicole Cochran's disqualification from the 4A girls 3,200 meters at Star Track last weekend just won't die.

Cochran, you might recall, is the Bellarmine Prep senior who apparently won the race after surging past leader Sandra Martinez of Davis with about 550 meters to go in the race -- only to have been judged to have run on the inside lane line for at least three consecutive strides, an infraction that led to her disqualification.

After her coaches appealed the decision (denied, of course -- otherwise, that'd be the end of the story), Shadle Park's Andrea Nelson walked off the awards podium after receiving the first-place medal and immediately draped it around Cochran's neck, saying, "You're the state champion."

The rest of the medal-winners then gathered around Cochran and had a medal exchange, with each handing their medal to the person who finished one spot ahead of her -- for instance, Redmond's Sarah Lord handed the second-place medal to Nelson and was given the third-place medal by teammate Devin McMahon, who got the fourth-place medal from Gig Harbor's Kate Stuart, and so on down the line ...

The whole thing ended up one of the most viewed stories on ESPN.com over the weekend -- another example of good sportsmanship from our fair state (remember the CWU softballers?).

Now comes this story from The Seattle Times, which says that footage from a Flotrack.com videotape of the race shows that it was Cochran's teammate Kayla Evans who was the actual culprit -- and it was on Lap 6, not Lap 7, as the judges said in reporting the infraction to meet officials.

As Cochran's coaches argued long into that Friday night with meet director Le Burns, pleading their case, I was wondering whether it was a case of mistaken identity. Cochran and Evans are of similar build, if I recall correctly, and while Cochran would have worn the No. 1 on her hip, Evans wore No. 11. It was an easy mistake to make.

And if you watch the video, you clearly see it was on Lap 6 that the yellow flag was raised, signalling the infraction.

The Bellarmine people are planning to take the matter to the WIAA executive board, it sounds like, and are even threatening legal action. WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese, though, rightly points out in the Times story that high school rules do not allow for the use of unauthorized video for review, and that a judgment call (such as whether someone ran on a lane line) is non-reviewable.

By the letter of the law, Colbrese is right. But by any other way of looking at the situation, it's a big bloody mess.

My guess how this might get resolved? Because the form detailing the infraction listed the wrong lap, I could see the WIAA board overturning the DQ on the grounds that it was incorrectly filled out -- similar to a judge tossing a traffic ticket because the wrong box was checkmarked. Not saying you weren't guilty, mind you, but since the constable erred in this case, the criminal shall go free (to borrow from an old legal adage).

How do you think this should be resolved? Would love to hear from all of you.

Til next time ...