Live Results | Race Videos
Section 2 Championship
For the most part, the running events on Tuesday went on without much drama. There were no falls in the hurdles of favored athletes or false starts of great consequence. I believe there was only one on the day. By the midway point of each distance race, the four qualifiers were pretty well defined and had separated themselves from most would be challengers. The drama started to really escalate around the boys 200m dash. As we've pointed out on social media, not only was it fast, but it was extremely close.
Just four hundredths of a second separated qualifying from sixth place however 4th and 5th were in a separate heat from 6th due to seeding based on district qualifying times. We synced up the videos for comparison.
In the event following, the team in the 4th place position changed approximately 4 times over the anchor legs as Taylah Upshaw of Riverdale took her team from 5th to 3rd over the final straightaway with Blackman hanging on to 4th over Cleveland.
While that race was exciting, it's nothing compared to the drama that unfolded in the boys 4x400m two races later. Just watch it without post-race context once and then replay as needed.
I left the meet planning to clip the part for social media at the end where Walker Valley narrowly outleans Oakland to grab the final state berth and when I finally got home to do so I noticed both teams were not listed with a time next their name but rather a DQ?! So I proceeded to text a coach who was there about why and he said "WV was an Exchange Violation and Oakland for throwing the baton." So I reviewed the tape and believe I identified both infractions.
For Walker Valley, scroll to the 1:02 mark of the opening leg and watch the runner in lane 7 in lower right. He inadvertently started to zigzag out of his lane for approximately 20 meters as if he were a second leg athlete going to break before correcting. This is what I believe got the Mustangs disqualified. I see nothing in the exchanges that would constitute a DQ.
Walker Valley would ultimately cross the line in 4th narrowly ahead of Oakland. At the 3:53 mark both teams finish. At the 3:55 mark the baton is spiked to the ground by Oaklands anchor. Blackman, who was the 6th team to cross the finish now advances to the state meet after both disqualifications.
Definitely not the way anyone wants to end their season. Hope we don't see many more of these as the competitions progress throughout the week and weekend.
