What do you expect from a blog like this? People are free to express their views, opinions on various subject matters. Many of us are not experts but learn from each other on this blog. If Florida was Dqed and A&M won the championship in Florida, what do you think Florida fans would be saying on their blogs. I bet you it would be same thing some of us are saying. I am not saying the call is right or wrong but I can tell you the best of us can make mistakes. No one is perfect and yes many rules are subject to interpretation, I can interpret it different from you. In all sports, committees have made mistakes too. This has happened countless times and will continue to happen when there is human element and judgment. So it has nothing to whether you know the Protest committee or not, if some of the bloggers see it differently, then so be it.
What does a comment on having home advantage have to do with hosting conference and national championship? Are the bloggers here decides who get to host championships. Then if so the Aggies would get to host all championships because the Aggies are some of the classiest people in the world.

I still cannot believe it. It upsets me greatly. I cannot begin to imagine what the participants and coaches must feel like. It is a tragedy; a very severe tragedy.

I just do not understand how a team can be disqualified if their action had absolutely no bearing on the outcome of the race.

Okla, what rule was actually broken? What was Florida’s protest? Didn’t the Protest Committee members realize that Florida was not protesting the outcome of the race; that their protest actually had nothing to do with the relay race.

Their protest was purely a back-door approach to alter the outcome of the entire meet. Were the members blind to what Florida was doing? Did they not care? What was their reasoning to support Florida’s protest?

We really need someone to explain how this could happen. Okla, since you know these members, please find and explain the answers to these questions.

I believe that the committee members did not look at the entire picture. Again, there was no action by anyone that altered the outcome of the race!!! The committee members, however, took it upon themselves to alter the outcome of the meet. I do not believe they acted in the way they did because they wanted Florida to win. However, I do not believe they acted in a fair and just manner. I also believe that another protest committee with a complete different set of members using the same rules, would not have taken the same disastrous action.

If we would have finished fourth or lower, there would have been no protest because there would not have been a reason for Florida to do so.

I strongly believe the members had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Can someone post a link to the 4x400 race, please?

Mid. All I got is a just the infringement on Flotrack. It says that
“First, an umpire reported an infraction during the final turn, saying that Florida had impeded A&M, disqualifying the Gators. But video evidence overturned that decision. Then Florida filed a protest, saying A&M had instead impeded the Florida runner. That protest was upheld, disqualifying A&M from the race. A&M subsequently protested to the Jury of Appeals, the final authority at the meet, but that protest was not upheld.”
This make no sense to me.
Copy and paste link below to see the infringement

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/251256-Indoor-Track-and-Field-2014-on-Flotrack/article/25372-Controversy-surrounds-SEC-4x400#.UxRyM_RDuQi

am I being trolled here? You can't just make a blanket statement about the rules and not give an explanation.

quote:

---

We were on our home track, and we are considered a track powerhouse. Shouldn't we get the benefit of a call like this?

---

No, neither one of those are a reason to get the benefit of a call. Home track means nothing to the officials and we weren't the only track powerhouse involved (not that being a track powerhouse should matter to the officials either).

quote:

---

what rule was actually broken?

---

I haven't seen the race, but from descriptions it was this one:

Section 5 Article 3:

quote:

---

The referee, after consulting with the appropriate officials, shall
disqualify a competitor who:
a. Jostles, cuts across or obstructs another competitor so as to impede the
other runner’s progress. Direct contact is not necessary; any action that
causes another runner to break stride or lose momentum is grounds for
disqualification;

---

As I mentioned earlier, this is what FloTrack is reporting happened
“First, an umpire reported an infraction during the final turn, saying that Florida had impeded A&M, disqualifying the Gators. But video evidence overturned that decision. Then Florida filed a protest, saying A&M had instead impeded the Florida runner. That protest was upheld, disqualifying A&M from the race. A&M subsequently protested to the Jury of Appeals, the final authority at the meet, but that protest was not upheld.”

If this is the correct sequence of the events, then my question is after the video evidence overturn the decision which meant that Florida won and A&M remain second, why did then Florida filed a request saying A&M had instead impeded the Florida runner? The only reason they filed it was to win the championship because they already got the judges nod for the 4 x 400 victory. Notice the report said an umpire first report the infraction and subsequent this was overturn and Florida got the victory. Florida then filed, which only meant they wanted the championship. Why didn't they accepted the 4 x 400 victory and moved on but they saw an avenue to get A&M dqed which would overturn now the overall championship results. This is my interpretation based on FloTrack report on the sequence of events. A&M only came into the fray when they protested the Jury of Appeal decision in the end

You have probably seen races where an athlete who is tiring in the stretch will continue to drift outside to stop a runner from passing them on the outside. This is consider an obstruction whether there is contact or not and the athlete is subject to disqualification. We have had an athlete disqualified at the national meet on this rule a few years ago. It doesn't matter whether the athlete is eventually able to get around or not. The obstruction called on us is similarly based. If we are ruled to have impeded the runner, whether it impacts the eventual finish or not, the athlete guilty of impeding the runner is disqualified. This is an unusual call to determine the outcome of a championship and I don't necessarily agree with the decision but if the officials make a determination that there was an obstruction then they must disqualify the athlete. If you were to see a runner run out of their lane and finish eighth in a race you wouldn't let them keep the point because they didn't beat anyone. You would disqualify them for running out of their lane much as the Florida 200 runner was disqualified earlier in the meet. It is a tough way to lose a meet and you don't necessarily have to agree with the call but to think there is something sinister in what happened is just not right. The people who get to the point of being a referee or on the jury of appeals at a meet of this caliber go through a vetting process and are there because of their reputation of being fair and even handed with their interpretation of the rules. They may have made a mistake but it is an honest one.

quote:

---

why did then Florida filed a request saying A&M had instead impeded the Florida runner? The only reason they filed it was to win the championship

---

They filed a protest because they can, the officials don't care about the motive. They only look at the incident, and they determined that the A&M runner impeded the Florida runner. They don't care what teams are involved or what place they are in or what the team standings are. It's Florida's job to worry about Florida's motive, not the officials'.

This is what happens when you have a sport with outcomes determined by judges. Players/teams get f***** over regularly. You should not be surprised that **** happened.

quote:

---

This is what happens when you have a sport with rules. Players/teams that break the rules get f***** over regularly. You should not be surprised that **** happened.

---

FIFY

After watching the replay on ESPN3 it seems to me that Olivia was on the outside of lane 1 but not far enough to cut in. If she had cut in that would have been impedance. But she didn't. When the Florida girl accelerated coming off the turn she ran through Olivia's elbow knocking Olivia off stride. So who impeded who? The Florida girl's stride never changed.

Been a long time since I was either an athlete or coach, and never at such a high level, but I could never accept a championship in the manner Florida just did.

How can you impede a runner whose stride was not broken and who won the race?

The protest had nothing to do with the race. The protest would have never been filed if we had finished fourth or lower. It was not an automatic disqualification situation such as running out of your lane, which does not require a protest to be enforced.

The committee members failed to realize the fallacy of Florida’s protest or the significance of their decision.

I do not believe they were biased or incompetent. However, I strongly believe they were atrociously wrong and a that different set of members would not have reached the same conclusion.

I would hope we never lose our integrity so that we have to resort to such behavior to “win” a championship in anything. They must be really proud of themselves in Florida to receive a championship trophy knowing that they did not earn it.

quote:

---

The committee members failed to realize the fallacy of Florida’s protest or the significance of their decision.

---

Trust me, they realized the significance of their decision. There was no fallacy in Florida's protest though.

I would really like a committee member to show and explain to us what dastardly thing we did to be disqualified. I know that, unfortunately, no one has to and I also know, unfortunately, no one ever will.

quote:

---

There was no fallacy in Florida's protest though

---

. Thus, if the 4x400 was the first race of the day, you honestly believe that Florida would have protested? Do the committee members also believe that? I certainly don’t.

I have never heard of a team filing a protest when they clearly won the race. I wonder if any of the protest committee members have ever heard this before. Very Strange Ruling.

There are lots of protests all the time that you never hear about. The bigger the meet the more common protests are.

redd: Have you ever heard of a protest from a team who clearly won the race.

The top 16 individuals and the top 12 relay teams based purely on performances get to go to the NCAA Championship meet.

As trini illustrated, to increase our chances of winning a NCAA Championship, we must get as many of our participants and relays into these top groups as possible. We desperately need more.

Top ranked teams

MEN:
1. Florida
2. Arkansas
3. Texas A&M
4. Oregon
5. Wisconsin

WOMEN:
1. Florida
2. Oregon
3. Texas A&M
4. Georgia
5. Arkansas

My basketball analogy was a poor attempt at pointing out that it was a subjective decision, and that decision can easily be a "no-call."

T&F seems to be mostly objective. You cross the line first, you jump higher, you throw a weight farther, etc... you win. There are still some subjectivity involved like the marking of weight thrown or the distance jumped. This decision was subjective that could have gone either way.

Regardless, a great meet by both teams. In particular, the Men's 4x400 collegiate record where the 2nd place team tied the previous record. Also, Kamaria Brown's 200/400 double, a historic first in the SEC.

There are no more last chance meets as mentioned earlier.

Qualifying Period: The first date a qualifying performance may be achieved is December 1st. The last date a qualifying performance may be achieved is March 2nd, and must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. Eastern except for conference championships. The deadline for results reporting to TFRRS for conference championships is by 5:00 p.m. Eastern on March 3rd. There are no “last chance” meets in Division I Indoor Track & Field.

Therefore the top 16 declared athletes would be accepted. Some athletes may be in the top 16 but may not be declared in that event because it is not his/her pet event. For e.g Deon Lendore is in the top 16 in the 200m and may not be declared in the 200m. Therefore someone in the 17th spot will be moved. Fortunately in the 200m the 17th person is Michael Bryan form A&M in 200m. Let wait and see who are actually declared. For the women, Kamaria must run both 200m and 400m to help our chances.

The disappointment though were our two seniors didn't make the NCAA. Both Ashley Collier (60m and 200m)and Ibukun Mayumbe did not make the top 16 in their event and were qualifiers last year. The prediction is even for Ashley Collier to win the 100 m outdoors. I don't know what is her problem this year, if is injury or not. I hope she is fully fit for outdoors to increase our chances to capture the outdoor title. Imagine we had both seniors making the NCAA with the others, then we would have had 4 women in 60m, 4 women in 200m and 4 women in 400m, all with great changes of scoring.

On the men's side I thought Shavez Hart would have made the 60m (20th), Michael Bryan is on the bubble in 200m (17th). Aldrich Bailey in 400m (17th), he may only focus on 200m, Carlyle Roudette in 400m (22nd) has been running good splits on the relay. Also thought we could have had an 800m qualifier in either Josh or Hector Hernandez. Also traditionally we used to have qualifiers in both men's long and triple jumps and scored big in these events. However, our jumpers are not top notch as yet. Casey Strong in the weight throw has shown great potential since last year and I though this year he would have qualify. On the plus side Chase Wolfle jump to the top 10 in the Pole Vault and I hope he can score. A couple of top notch distance runners and field athletes would have really helped

In essence therefore we need our qualifiers to be at their best. Florida is obviously the favorite in the men's event with many quality qualifiers. On the women's side Oregon, Florida and A&M could be in the mix.

All the best to our Aggie qualifiers to NCAA track and field indoor championship 2014

quote:

---

redd: Have you ever heard of a protest from a team who clearly won the race.

---

I work field events, not races, so I don't pay too much attention to their protests. But I've heard of people winning a field event protesting. Especially if they failed to set a record they were going for and they felt like they had a strong case. I'm not sure I've seen a protest this thin for a winner, but it's not uncalled for.

I'd be curious as to what the other SEC coaches thought about UF winning the trophy after their protest.