Track and field: With Bronxville protest upheld, girls relay awarded county title
Lakeland/Panas left The Armory Sunday believing it had won its first ever Westchester County girls track and field championship.
Instead, on Wednesday, that title was transferred to longtime track power Bronxville, which successfully argued video replay should not have been used to disqualify its 4x400 relay team.
The decision, which reinstated the Broncos' 4x400 win, in turn, changed a 75-70 Lakeland/Panas team final point advantage to an 80-73 Bronco victory. It was made official by Section 1's Protest Committee on Wednesday.
According to Section 1 assistant director Jesse Merchant, the committee based its decision on the National Federation of State High School Associations rules, which the New York State Public High School Athletic Association follow for track and field.
And those rules prohibit video replay from influencing track officials' decisions unless the video comes from "finish line equipment."
Merchant said review of the protest and the decision was made by the Section 1 Protest Committee made up of White Plains athletic director Matt Cameron, Somers athletic director Roman Catalino and Haldane athletic director Dan Cowan, as well as Section 1 track chairmen Pete Modafferi, the Clarkstown South coach, and Phil Carbone, the Nanuet athletic director.
The legitimacy of the disqualification, which was based a Bronxville runner allegedly cutting off a Lakeland/Panas runner, apparently did not weigh into the decision.
Bronxville athletic director Joe Haven expressed satisfaction with the decision and argued his team should never have been disqualified other than during the race by an official on the track.
"I'm happy for them," he said of his team.
He added, "I feel bad for those kids (at Lakeland/Panas) feeling like they won the championship, but those things happen."
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Dan Belfi, the Lakeland School District's athletic director, said the committee had done its "due diligence" in consulting multiple people, including at the state athletic level.
He said the reversal was made on a "technicality" and didn't detract from Lakeland/Panas's performance.
"I'm super proud of the the girls," he said, pointing to the high level of competition (26 teams scored). I look forward to their future success the rest of the season."
Bronxville coach Keina Samuels could not be reached for comment but Lakeland/Panas coach Ryan Johnson expressed disappointment, saying Bronxville had been correctly disqualified for "blatantly cutting off our lead-off runner."
The infraction, he said, occurred after the relay's lead-off runners were starting the home stretch of the first of two laps, when runners from different lanes merge into inside lanes.
Johnson said track officials should have immediately made the call but when that didn't happen, he filed a protest that led to the video review and the determination by on-site track officials to disqualify Bronxville.
"It was a clear-cut foul in which our runner almost face-planted on the curve," he said, explaining his runner had been leading.
"There's no avenue for appeal, so the right decision will not be upheld," Johnson said.
Johnson, who learned of the ruling late Wednesday morning, noted he would speak to his team later in the day.
"I will tell them that even though the right call was made (when Bronxville was disqualified), the video was ruled inadmissible by the Section 1 committee," he said. "I will tell them that it isn't fair but they should hold their heads high and they should not be any less proud of their amazing achievement."
Nancy Haggerty covers cross-country, track & field, field hockey, skiing, ice hockey, girls lacrosse and other sporting events for The Journal News/lohud. Follow her on Twitter at both @HaggertyNancy and at @LoHudHockey.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Bronxville wins protest, replaces Lakeland/Panas as county track champ
