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This morning, NC State nearly lost its 200-yard free relay to a preliminary disqualification for the second year in a row at the NCAA Division I Men’s Championships.
Initially, NC State was disqualified due to a -0.03 relay exchange between Simonas Bilis and Ryan Held, and a video review of the exchange did not provide what the NCAA is calling a “conclusive view” of the exchange.
NC State head coach Braden Holloway immediately appealed the ruling, and the NCAA discovered that much of the timing system had issues throughout the morning as well. So, the NCAA decided to allow the -0.03 exchange since the timing equipment had so many problems throughout the day anyway.
The timing equipment had such an impact on the event, that it double the standard 20-minute break before the 400-yard medley relay this morning.
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.”
