The NCAA has released a statement on the disqualification of the North Carolina State men’s 200 free relay during Thursday morning’s prelims session that was originally disqualified for an early exchange, but then later reinstated.
The touchpads registered one NC State swimmer has having a reaction time of -.03 seconds, but upon further review, that DQ was overturned, which leaves the team with the top seed heading into Thursday’s final.
In the statement, NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Committee chair Bill Ball said that it became clear that there was an issue with the timing equipment, leading them to throw out all electronic readings from the relay and rely just on the judged results. That resulted in no disqualifications, though there were three in the 400 medley relay to end the session.
The full statement is below:
The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Committee upheld a protest to overturn a disqualification that occurred in the third and final heat of the 200-yard men’s freestyle relay qualifying heats today.
The committee used Rule 4 – 2 which states in part “(the committee) shall have discretionary power to set aside the application of a rule when there is apparent unfairness.” The committee set aside Rule 4-14-7 which allows a referee to review video of relay exchanges because the referee onsite did not have a conclusive view of the swimming exchange to be able to reverse the protest. The team disqualification was overturned due to issues surrounding the timing system.
Committee chair Bill Ball issued the following statement regarding the committee’s decision. “We looked at all the information we had available at our disposal and it was clear that we had some issues with the timing system that extended across all three qualifying heats. We felt that we had clear evidence that the system was not operating properly and we chose to eliminate all the electronic readings and go with human judge decisions in the event. The committee acted in the best interests of all 21 teams that were entered in the event.”
Destiny was ruthless for NCSU today. Too bad because they really were the fastest 200 FR of the year, winning by .7
Statement:
Committee chair Bill Ball issued the following statement regarding the committee’s decision. “We looked at all the information we had available at our disposal and it was clear that we had some issues with the timing system that extended across all three qualifying heats. We felt that we had clear evidence that the system was not operating properly and we chose to eliminate all the electronic readings and go with human judge decisions in the event. The committee acted in the best interests of all 21 teams that were entered in the event.”
Gator,
Thanks for posting what appears to be the related rule. I cannot make out the applicable section pertaining to the statement regarding what you… Read more »
This seems to be the related section… so they use the video to determine if the equipment is calibrated? and if not… they go to human judgements.
ARTICLE 7. Video replay may be used at competitions governed by a meet… Read more »
or games committee composed of representatives of multiple institutions to
determine if the electronic judging equipment has failed. Such equipment shall
be used if both relay judges independently record opposite of the equipment. The
referee shall review the video to determine if there was a machine malfunction
and clear video evidence exists to overturn the call. Challenges by coaches are
not permitted as part of this rule. To use such equipment, the meet committee
Here’s the rule – statement makes sense.
Electronic Takeoff Equipment
ARTICLE 6. When electronic relay judging equipment is used:
a. In nonchampionships meets, at least one human takeoff judge must be
assigned to observe the relay exchange in all lanes. In championships meets,
two human takeoff judges must be assigned this responsibility.
b. A person who is positioned as a lane takeoff judge may be assigned to observe
relay exchanges in no more than one lane. A side judge may be assigned
to observe relay exchanges in not more than four lanes, with three or less
preferred.
c. If the electronic relay takeoff equipment detects an exchange differential
(takeoff pad… Read more »
Clearly judges eyes and video observation are far superior to automated relay exchange equipment – during a protest…hmmmm
If it was deemed to have failed during the opening event of the meet, how can it be trusted on other relay events? Is the supplier onsite to perform an inspection and recertify it after it was deemed to have “failed”.
For my part, glad to have NC State in the finals to see if all the hype stands up. Gonna be a barn burner.
I hope they don’t DQ again…especially due again to relay exchange equipment malfunctions.
Is Omega touchpads not being used at the meet, could have sworn they were.
Unless NCAA does not have the rule -.03 is legal with Omega touchpads as per most countries and Omega timing rules.
Did NCAA not have this rule on the books and they are just covering up an administrative error?
It should have been a clear cut overrule.
its a DAKTRONICS System, with RTO cameras I think
The ruling is fair to all 21 teams in the event; if Stanford and Indiana had swum faster, they would not be facing the role that they are in (8th to 9th and 16th to out of scoring position). There is an old saying in the computer business ” To error is human to really screw things up takes a computer!)
“The committee acted in the best interests of all 21 teams that were entered in the event – except Stanford and Indiana, because who cares about them?”
Given the timing system malfunction, what would have them do differently??
He probably thinks it’d be more in the best interest of Stanford if they disqualified NC State without enough evidence, and then disqualified every other relay besides Stanford. And then made the pool shorter for them so they could destroy the record in finals
Nave Dolan haha this guy ^^^
I actually made my comment in hopes of being funny, but clearly I should be a troll instead of a comedian…