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Show Letter to sports editor 1 am furious as I write this letter only because I am forced to do so by the issue at hand. It seems we had a local "Games Committee" officiating at the recent Davis County District Track Meet held at Bountiful High this past Monday and Tuesday. Tues-day. Well, at least we thought there was a "Games Committee," Commit-tee," but in reality they seemed to be pawns for the influence of a certain high school's track coach and another school's apparent appa-rent rivalry with an up-and-coming Woods Cross High School. The story goes like this: ALMOST $1,000 was SDent on awards and trophies for this fine sporting event. Line judges were provided for the sprint races, field judges were provided for field events, but no corner judges were provided for the distance races (1600 and 3200 meters). Couldn't they afford it? The uncanny compromise was, however, that the judges and officiating leader of the "Games Committee," one Pete Steiner, thought that seeing the finish of a dramatic 1600 meter boys race (with District record breaking time), was enough to disqualify the winner, Matt Roat of Woods Cross, in favor of Kurt Black, the Davis "Star," due to Roat's alleged drifting into another lane. The complaint was obviously lodged by Davis coaching staff, and when a counter-complaint was lodged by Roat's school, Woods Cross, that there had been two accounts of aggressive contact by Black during the race, it was not accepted by the Committee because "they had not seen that part of the race and there were no official corner judges." Further, the fact that more than 100 spectators witnessed the contact "was not acceptable." Team members from several schools questioned the Woods Cross Coach about the incident of contact, who replied that since Roat had won, no matter the incident. How can an official disqualification be determined when there were no corner judges, when only one part of the race was witnessed (the finish) when no counter-complaint from the opposing school would even be considered, when no random questioning of spectators or other teams was attempted to verify the earlier contact, and I could go on. An acceptable alternative might have been to disqualify both runners instead of one, since the second place of Black was so painfully close to Roat's first place win (which obviously triggered the complaint in the first place). I WOULD suggest that the so-called "Games Committee" get their act together and provide appropriate judging or have no disqualifications, period. Are you there, Committee, or are you not? Make up your mind. This letter may or may not do any good, but I hope that the manner of officiating at these meets is finally brought to everyone's every-one's attention, as I understand this is not the first complaint of bias against Pete Steiner and his "arrangements." IN THE future, I can only say, "watch out Davis, you may not have the State 1600 meter star!" Name withheld upon request |
