The Northwest Trend : Amazing Sportsmanship, Terrible Officiating

On the heels of that whole carry the injured girl around the softball field thing comes another story of amazing sportsmanship from the Northwest. And, like the softball story, it's made possible by terrible officiating.

In last weekend's Washington state track championships, officials disqualified the apparent winner of the 3200-meter run, Nicole Cochran of Bellarmine Prep, ruling that she'd illegally stepped out of her lane.

Thing is, she hadn't. One official refused to sign off on the disqualification. The runners who competed in the race told the officials that Cochran hadn't done anything wrong. But they disqualified her anyway. And when they did, according to Tom Wyrwich of the Times:

Andrea Nelson, a sophomore from Shadle Park of Spokane, was named the official winner, but she walked off the podium and hung her gold medal over Cochran's neck.

"It kind of gave me chills," Cochran said. "It was really emotional."

Then the rest of the top eight finishers passed their medals down to the person who crossed the finish line ahead of them.

Wow. Now video of the race shows that Cochran's teammate was the one who stepped out of her lane. It was a case of mistaken identity.

Ref incompetence was what led to the softball story as well. According to the rules, a team is supposed to be able to pinch run for a player who's injured rounding the bases after a home run. The umpire blew the call, forcing the Central Washington players to do their lift job.

So--video shows the call was wrong, all the competitors agree the call was wrong--will the WIAA make it official? No, of course not. WIAA executive director Mike Colbrese, according to Wyrwich, "said the WIAA must follow the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which prohibits the use of unauthorized video for reviews. In addition, the race official's ruling is considered a judgment call, which Colbrese said is non-reviewable."

Oh come ONNNNN. Bell Prep's coach is threatening to sue--and when you have to look to the courts for common sense, that's when you know things are bad.

The WIAA made a similarly hard-headed decision earlier this year when it ruled that Archbishop Murphy had to forfeit its football season after a player's paperwork was late--this during a year when the team's coach died midseason.

Attention WIAA--you are human beings. You can interpret the rules based on their intent...you made them, remember? Good lord.