NFHS Officiating Track & Field and Cross Country Methods Course Preview

Read the following scenario, play the audio clip and then answer the question below.

Last week’s regional track and field meet is a distant memory, and the meet’s director is relaxing at home when the phone rings. On the other line is Jan Granger, the athletic director at Prairie View High School, which placed third in the meet, missing out on second place by just a few points to Lincoln High School.

I don’t know if you’ve heard about this yet, but it turns out that one of Lincoln’s sprinters was ineligible to participate in the meet last week. Their AD will be notifying you of this tomorrow. The athlete in question placed in three races, and according to my calculations, if those points are taken away we’d end up in second place. I know I’m going to have people asking me about this first thing tomorrow, so can I tell them that the scores will be adjusted?

I’m afraid not. Fixing an error like this shouldn’t hinge on whether the change will determine a new tournament champion. Besides, Jan and her school could perceive this response as an insult.

Incorrect. Clerical errors usually have a time limit for correction, but this is an exception.

Let’s not go that far. Even if the athlete was ineligible to participate, his whole team shouldn’t be disqualified because of it.

Officiating Track & Field and Cross Country Methods by ASEP, 2005, Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
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