(Photo/Courtesy of Mr. Dreisbach)
From senior Dylan Warren
The air in C.T. Branin Natatorium at Canton McKinley High School in Canton, Ohio, was alive. As the swimmers stepped up to the blocks, the noise of the crowd died down from loud conversations to soft murmurs and then to total silence.
Teammates gathered behind the lanes of their respective teams, preparing to cheer their hearts out for what was sure to start the night with insane suspense.
The top eight teams of the 200 medley relay walked out of the ready room and lined up.
Top seed in the 200, Columbus Academy, stood behind the blocks of lane four.
“Take your mark . . .” said the starter. The crowd and the teammates collectively held their breath, ready to scream in an instant on the verge of their tense seats.
The buzzer sounded, and the swimmers flew off. The crowd erupted into a deafening roar. Teammates stood at the end of the lanes screaming and jumping up and down.
The order of the 200 medley relay goes in this order: backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle.
Jack Campbell, swimming butterfly, came charging into the wall as Jacob timed the exchange and flew off the blocks with a purpose. When Jacob finished, we stood behind lane four going absolutely nuts. As a senior and captain on the team, I was so proud of my boys and what they had just accomplished. Not only had they just won Columbus Academy’s first ever state title in that event, they had also broken the school record by over a second.
Columbus Academy finished first with a 1:33, dropping over an entire second from prelims the day before. Hawken finished second.
And then it all changed. A collective gasp went up from the crowd, and as my teammates and I looked up to the scoreboard to see the infamous “D” next to Academy’s time, in place of where there should have been a “1” for finishing first. It meant the most damning thing possible at the state competition level: we had been disqualified.
As the realization set in, fans yelled in outrage. Others cheered with joy. As for my teammates and myself, we stood in shock.
Of course, Hawken’s fans were ecstatic.
We walked away in silence, heads hung low.
My fellow Vikings and I quietly returned to our team area in the gym, meeting our assistant coach along the way. Usually an extremely positive guy, even he held his head low, the usual smile that filled his eyes noticeably absent.
One by one, members of the Columbus Academy relay team entered the gym. We silently hugged them all. Their moods varied considerably. Jack entered first in total silence, scowling, and with a far away look in his eyes. Nate stomped in, threw his clothes at his bag, and stormed out, heading for the warm down pool. Jacob, charged with the disqualification for false starting, entered the gym sobbing. He crashed down into his seat and buried his face into his hands, body shaking as he heaved. Finally, Max walked in fast, pointing at Jacob from across the gym. “Don’t you do this Jacob,” Max yelled. “Don’t you dare do this.” We all looked up. “That wasn’t on you,” Max said angrily, now right next to Jacob. “That wasn’t on you. That was on all of us, all four of us. We are a team. We did that together. Understand?” Max now held Jacob’s head to his chest. Jacob nodded. Max crouched so that he was eye level with Jacob. “Now, let’s go warm down, okay? We’ve got more racing to do.” Slowly, they got up and walked toward the warm down pool.
And so the Columbus Academy Vikings rallied. Max went on to finish 5th in the 200 IM and 4th in the 100 fly. Nate went on to finish 7th in the 200 IM and 2nd in the 100 breast. Jacob finished 6th in the 50 free and 4th in the 100 back.
Thirty minutes later, we had video and photographic proof that there was nothing even slightly illegal about the relay. As the picture in this article shows, Jacob’s feet had not yet left the blocks before Jack’s hands had touched the wall. As a matter of fact, it was a perfect start: as a team we could not have asked Jacob to do more. And we told him so, showing him the picture to help ease his angst.
The night ended with the announcement of the final scores. The Columbus Academy Boys finished third with 146 points. Cincinnati Seven Hills finished second with 171 points. Hawken finished first with 230 points.
Third place is the highest the boys team has ever finished at the state meet. The disqualification cost the Columbus Academy Boys their first ever state runner-up finish in the history of the school. However, they rallied valiantly. They swam best times throughout the night, refusing to be deterred from standing on the podium. They finished with a 2nd place finish in the 400 free relay.
OHSAA rules dictate that all decisions regarding disqualifications are final and are not subject to further review, even when considering photographic proof as evidence contradicting the call.
This article has been a recounting of the event from the observer’s perspective, and a retelling of the emotions and brutal reality of the situation, in an effort to help others realize the flaw in the OHSAA officiating system.
Disqualifying a state champion on simple human error is the most controversial call one could make as an official. To not even reconsider the call after there is proof the call should be reversed is the true injustice of the system.
On top of it all, the official standing over Columbus Academy’s lane dropped the disqualification paper into the water.
OHSAA is behind on the technological curve, and it’s about time they modernized.
From senior Nate Goldfarb
After Friday’s whirlwind of events, I learned a lot. I have never been so emotionally confused in my life.
I was happy because we went fast. The race was not even close. We won the event by 1.5 seconds, but I was also sad because it was wrongly taken away from us.
The most important part of day was how we handled the drama. We approached the rest of the meet with class and respect for others, and we received an amazing amount of unconditional support from the swim community.
As we (the relay) walked to the warm down pool, we were embraced by swimmers and coaches that we see once a year, saying “Keep your heads up.” and “We all saw how fast you guys went.”
Many of the Hawken boys (the team who got 1st place after the disqualification) came up to me and apologized for what occurred, and the head official, who said to Max and me how the result is unable to be overturned, was nearly in tears saying, “I have been an official at the nation’s most revered meets, and this was the hardest decision I have ever had to make.”
That moment, when we saw the 1 become a D will forever be extremely disappointing and frustrating.
But that result does not represent what day’s meet was like or how we are viewed.
We don’t want people to pity us because of that one false judgement by the officials.
We want people to notice how resilient we were and how fast we swam.
