High-School Running Champs Lose Crown Due to Illegal Undies
Categories: Sports
The Hereford High School Bulls lost their championship at the Baltimore County cross country races because one runner was wearing the wrong underwear. Credit: Algerina Perna, Baltimore Sun
Victory goes to the fleetest, right? Not this week. Not in Baltimore County, Md.
A boys' cross-country team sped to victory in a high school championship only to have the triumph overturned for a strange reason: Illegal shorts.
Race officials took the crown away from the Hereford High School Bulls because one of their runners ran the race wearing black compression shorts with visible white stitching under uniform pants. That broke Rule 9, Section 6, Article 1b of the National Federation of High Schools' rules which state: "Items displaying seams stitched on the outside of the garment in a visible contrasting color to the undergarment will be illegal beginning with the 2009-2010 school year."
"It's an unfortunate situation. We have the utmost respect for [Hereford]," the coach of another team in the meet said to the Baltimore Sun. "They can take the plaque away, but they can't take away the race," Hereford's co-coach Jason Bowman, told the Sun.
Small uniform glitches leading to big disappointments aren't as rare as one would think in youth sports. In March, a Chicago high school basketball team lost a hard-fought game due to uniforms with bad stripes.
Yes, folks, bad stripes.
North Lawndale College Prep showed up for a game with stripes that breached a rule mandating that basketball shirts be one color from the neck to the armhole to the bottom of the jersey. The penalty for donning the non-conforming shirts was a free throw awarded to North Lawndale's opponent (which it sank). Final score: Centennial 66, North Lawndale (with bad stripes) 65.
ParentDish sports reporter Mark Hyman is the author of Until It Hurts: America's Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms our Kids (Beacon Press). Have a suggestion for an article on youth sports? Contact Mark at pdyouthsports@aol.com
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
christi 10-28-2009 @ 4:58PM
ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS !!! Did the stitching make him run faster?? LOL. I feel sorry for the boy.
Reply
Hall Monitor 10-29-2009 @ 8:01AM
I can see how something like stitching can cause an uproar. We keep forgetting rules aren't created to make sense.
Hall Monitor
DetentionSlip.org
cobral1 10-29-2009 @ 11:37AM
I totally agree. This is totally ridiculous.
Fran 10-30-2009 @ 10:02AM
Click on this blue link in the article above:"Rule 9, Section 6, Article 1b of the National Federation of High Schools". This will take you to them that made that rule. Click "Contact Us" and work your way from there. Fill out the form, it will end up with a suggestion box. Once there, you know what to do, n don't chicken out.
TheCoz 10-30-2009 @ 11:31AM
My gosh. I agree, no one should EVER have to follow rules.
Come on people. Rules are in place, they didn't follow, or they allowed their members to not follow, you lose.
Really now, this is just a simple penalty that will forever be remembered and because of making them follow NOW, MAYBE they won't be such a burden on society and follow rules when they get older.
Something different, huh? How dare us make kids follow rules. We are in so much trouble.
Doreen 10-30-2009 @ 12:33PM
Why does this shock people? We the people have no say in our own life so what makes you think that we can make our own choice of what undies we wear. You know it is bad out there when you are told what kind of undies you can wear. What is this world coming to?
Lisa 10-30-2009 @ 1:02PM
ALTHOUGH A STUPID RULE. RULES ARE RULES, AND IF WE KEEP BENDING THEM WHY HAVE ANY AT ALL? WE ARE ALL IN BIG TROUBLE IF WE DON'T FORCE PEOPLE TO ABIDE, NO MATTER HOW STUPID THEY MAY BE.
rsparkles 10-30-2009 @ 1:34PM
I am a former cross country coach and before every meet, I did a VERY thorough check of EVERY RUNNER looking for any little uniform violation that could cause problems. Coaches must know the rules, communicate it to their team, and enforce the rules pre-race. I have seen lots of individuals and teams suffer because of nit picky rules, but they are rules and you have to play by them.
chet 10-30-2009 @ 2:05PM
chris
I agree with you.I am an official and have to say that what ever that rule says I must inforce.All couches know the rules and I am sorry but you lose.
alias 11-01-2009 @ 9:00PM
Why the picky regulations in the first place? How did they know about the color of the underwear, let alone the stitching in the first place?
Betty 10-28-2009 @ 6:07PM
That certainly sounds like a stupid regulation to me. What difference does the underwear make anyway?
Reply
Form Track Coach 11-04-2009 @ 3:52PM
I used to coach track and There were some rules that were safety urles that the college level andOlympic level let the participants run away with. For example absolutely no jewlery, metal of anykind. So acting as the clerk of course I would tell children ( if they wore braces on their teeth) they would be DQed of they had to take off theri glasses) Of couse I was joking but. Wearing metal of any kind on the body and fall ing on the track or your body contacting someone elses could lead to major injuries. The clothing issue was set as to make a team unified. All dressing alike.
kaalee 10-30-2009 @ 12:52PM
My daughter almost got disqualified in a track and meet race in high school once. She had a long-sleeved shirt under her uniform because it was cold. Her shirt was black with white stitching around the neck. The official told her that he would let her race, but next time she would be DQ'd. He told her the stitching could be "distracting" to the other racers. The funny thing is that there were a bunch of girls that had on bright colored and argyle knee socks. They weren't against the "uniform" rules, so they were allowed. How can small white stitching be distracting when you are running and can't see it? I feel sorry for the team, but especially the boy. (And even though others didn't like the decision, my guess is that it was someone from a losing team that drew it to the officials attention.)
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Monica 10-31-2009 @ 12:37AM
Sampling of track and field uniform rules...
1. Headbands of any color = OK
2. tights or shirts (or spandex compression shorts) of a color different than your teammates, or with a contrasting seam color = DQ
3. arm bands/ arm warmers/ or socks of any color or length = OK
4. rubber bands in your hair = OK
5. rubber band on your wrist = DQ (counts as jewelry--I'm not making this up!)
6. different colored sports bras = OK, although they did try for a while to mandate that each runner on a team has the same color of sports bra--gave it up , at least in my state
7. stopwatch on your wrist = OK
8. carrying a stopwatch in your hand = DQ
9. only one manufacturer logo (example-- Nike, UnderArmour, etc.) per garment, and must not exceed a certain number of square inches--same thing if you want to put an American flag patch somewhere on your uniform
10. beads in your hair = DQ (too dangerous)
11. 1/4 " metals spikes in your shoes = OK (apparently not as dangerous as hair beads???)
12. any length of shirt or shorts OK (has to obey the color rule)
13. wearing a t shirt under your uniform that has some writing on it (like a message on the front) = DQ, if the writing is visible through the uniform at any point before, during, or after the race.
14. tattoos = OK (not always the case)
15. Knotting your uniform in any way = DQ
16. run your a@@ off to win a race = OK, but the title can and will be taken away over a technicality and given to a team that couldn't out run you. Yeah, yeah, rules are rules, coaches should have known, blah blah blah, officials are just doing their jobs, blah blah blah. Go to a track rules meeting, start questioning why some of these rules are even there to begin with, and you'll get a lot of blank stares. Been there.
alexanderrg 10-28-2009 @ 5:49PM
idiotic
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alexanderrg 10-28-2009 @ 5:48PM
idiotic
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Ed 10-28-2009 @ 6:04PM
What does this really teach kids? You can do your best and lose on a legal technicality. Good lesson. It can happen. It also teaches them that its ok to win on a minor, irelevant, mistake. Keep the money. Some one else made a mistake. I can get out of paying the bill, paying the bank, taking the test, righting the wrong. The best lesson would be for the coaches of the other teams to say "look what is right is right we don't want the plaque." This is the team that won the race and we all know it. That's sportmanship. At one time we used sports to teach our children about moral truth. That it was not about how you won but how you played the game. Come on coaches step up and fight the good fight for your kids and for this country as a whole.
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Howard 10-29-2009 @ 11:17AM
While I don't understand the reason for the rule and in no way support it, there is a lesson to be learned here; life isn't fair. Sometimes you get the short end of the stick and you either have to fight for what's right or accept it and move on.
shanentheword 10-29-2009 @ 8:19PM
ed i totally agree with you .. dont you get off that soap box !!!
bee 10-30-2009 @ 9:38AM
The rules are there and should be followed. If you don't like the rule, for whatever the reason, you should effect a change before the race not after. The kid broke the rule, and lost the race because of it. That's the lesson learned... don't brake the rules. Next time they all should know. Next time they should all review the rules, and if there is some rule or regulation that doesn't make sense, try to get it removed or changed before the race. If you can't resend it... follow it.