Brody Buffington's celebration draws another DQ, wipes out Cougars' 4x200 win at state meet

May 25—LANDOVER — Brody Buffington's life under a track and field microscope took another incredible twist just as the sun started to set Thursday at the Prince George's Sports and Learning Complex.

As the Catoctin High senior approached the finish line in what seemed to be another sensational victory, making up a 15-meter deficit on the final leg of the Class 1A 4x200 meter relay, Buffington looked toward the crowd and raised a finger in the air.

As he crossed the finish line, he then extended his arms out wide.

Buffington's final leg, as well as his celebration at the finish, electrified the crowd. Such has become common practice for one of the fastest high school sprinters in the nation. He was bombarded with picture and autograph requests by fans and fellow athletes after the race, which has also become part of the normal routine at big meets.

But, for the second time this year, the way Buffington celebrated a win put him in the crosshairs of meet officials, who deemed it excessive and disqualified Catoctin from the relay.

Largo, the top seed going into the race, was awarded the victory in 1:29.70 after finishing a distant second on the track. Catoctin's time of 1:28.84 was wiped off the board.

"I am disappointed," Cougars coach Dave Lillard said of the ruling. "I am not disappointed at Brody. I am just disappointed."

Previously, Buffington was disqualified on Feb. 4 for prematurely celebrating his win the in 300-meter dash at the Class 1A West regional indoor meet in Hagerstown. He was only running against teammates in that race.

Video of that disqualification attracted more than a million views on social media and drew widespread condemnation of meet officials for making that ruling. A number of Olympians who saw the video rallied to Buffington's defense on social media.

In the days that followed, Buffington joked to the News-Post that his days of celebrating race wins was over.

Asked immediately after Thursday's race why he decided to demonstratively celebrate the relay win, Buffington said, "I wanted to get the crowd going. That's why I did that. That's not taunting. That's a celebration."

That was before he was aware of the DQ.

As he attempted to cool down, trailed persistently by autograph seekers and people that wanted a photo, Buffington was approached by Lillard, who gave him the bad news.

Asked several minutes later if he had a reaction to the DQ, a visibly agitated Buffington said, "Yep." But he declined to share it.

The latest DQ drew swift reaction on social media, mostly in support of Buffington once again. But not everyone was pleased with how he handled the end of that relay.

Teammate Furious Trammel, who ran the second leg for Catoctin on the 4x200 after winning the 1A boys long jump (21 feet, 9 3/4 inches), said in a phone interview that he was upset about the disqualification.

"He knew the rules, and he broke them," Trammel said of Buffington.

Trammel said that he had not yet spoken with Buffington since the end of the relay.

Earlier in the meet, Buffington easily won his semifinal heats in the 100 and 200 dashes. His time in the 100 was 10.57 seconds, which set a 1A record. His time in the 200 was 21.7 seconds.

In both sprints, he slowed down before the end of the race. He said it was to conserve energy for the 4x200 relay.

On Saturday, Buffington will run the finals in the 100 and 200. He said he is hoping to get under 10 seconds in the 100 — his personal-best is 10.15, run on the same track earlier in the month in Landover — and a time just over 20 seconds in the 200.

Trammel, meanwhile, will triple jump and run the 400 dash. He will be among the favorites to win both events.

"I can't ask for much more," he said.

Catoctin trailed the 4x200 relay by a wide margin. But Asher Clingerman ran an outstanding third leg to close the gap and give Buffington a chance to take over on the final leg.

Buffington credited Clingerman's leg for getting the race back on track for Catoctin.

"That was an outstanding leg," Lillard said of Clingerman. "Asher is an outstanding runner. He is going to run in college at Salisbury University. I think he will be an outstanding addition to their team."

Follow Greg Swatek on Twitter: @greg_swatek