Sam Ellis DQ in 800m Semis

No, the protest is documented and Powell read it. Powell said it wasn't for the lane violation.

According to FlashResults it's for 2+ steps outside lane.

that is what the DQ was for. That is not what the original protest was for!!! Watch the interview!!

To be honest, when I saw that there was a DQ in a middle distance race, I thought it was going to be Adam Spencer from Wisconsin in Heat #2 of the 1,500. He repeatedly cut into Messaoudi on the last lap, running in the middle of lane 1 with Messaoudi on the rail, and then finally cut him off with only a gap of a foot or two, infringing on Messaoudi's momentum. I guess there was no appeal since Messaoudi did end up qualifying; however, Spencer should have been DQ'd for stupid running.

I have it on dvr on my tv and watched again frame by frame. He runs at least the entire 2nd half of the curve on the line or completely in lane 1. He is likely on the line earlier than that but it is very obvious over the 2nd half of the curve. He got lucky that his steps had his feet in the air as he crossed over the break line cones or he would have stepped on it or kicked it over.

Gotta give props to Andy here... he was incredibly calm discussing this.

It is odd that Sythe would put in a protest here. Maybe Powell is right and he meant to protest the heat his athlete was in?? Strange indeed.

Just watched it. Wonder why FlashResults is showing it differently.

I really hope somehow this turns out to have been a case of he wrote down the heat down.

If a coach protested a heat his guy wasn't in and had no hope of getting into the final, he should be ashamed. Seriously. Why in the world would you do that? And don't tell me it's to move your guy up from 17th to 16th. Ellis ran the first 200 in last? He gained what - 6 inches of distance?

Like seriously, why would you do that? So he can put on his resume he coached a "2nd team" All-American even though everyone knows he didn't deserve it? Just put down NCAA qualifier, Hnoorable mention all-american.

Looking at the tape, it looks like the LBSU coach might have put the wrong heat. At 25ish seconds in his runner’s heat (2), his runner seemed to be “cut off” by Yanouri. If you go the the LBSU track Instagram video of the race, you hear their coaches in the background saying “did you see that bump”.

Looks like they may have had the case to protest that their guy was impeded in his race which would’ve gotten him through? This seems like the most logical course of events. Sucks that he wrote the wrong heat for Sam Ellis though.

Very unfortunate for Mr Ellis, however the rules are the rules. Did he do it for an advantage probably but the Long Beach coach getting him DQ is very low. You know Long Beach is never getting an invite to UW ever again.

So can people just arbitrarily challenge races so they can be put under a microscope for minuscule infractions? I’m sure you could find DQ worthy for many people, especially in physical races, if you review and slo-mo everyone. Disgraceful!

Guy cuts the curve for 30+ meters and gains an advantage over everyone else in the race. It's a simple rule, run in your lane and not on the line. Blaming the person who reported his violation rather than the person who committed the violation is comical shifting of guilt. But yeah, Andy Powell is clearly going to hold a grudge since he thinks that "cheating but not getting caught" is way less offensive than calling out cheating (or in this case citing the wrong rule).

Running is such a simple, pure sport. Start here, finish there, go as fast as you can. Don't cut the course or intentionally impede others. And yet, here people are arguing that true sportsmanship is looking the other way unless it directly impacts your athlete?

Some DQs are stupid but cutting the course short is a no no in my books.

It sucks that this happened at NCAAs. I did not watch the race, not sure where to find it. I would love to see for myself.

The first curve is run on lanes, you should really be able to control where you are in relation to the lane line

He made up for it by running wide on the final curve. Call it good.

I think running inside the lane does grant a DQ IF the officials see it.

this would be like reviewing tape of balls and strikes after the game is over. Or if a touchdown gets called back after the game because the guy was out of bounds.

I think we have all been on the wrong side of a protest and this sucks for the athlete. If you are going to DQ a kid do it during the race

I agree and it brings out another question. Why was it not spotted during the race?

Because these officials are old and it’s 90 degrees! You ever been to a track meet? They work 10 hour days for a t shirt and a bag of chips.

Exactly. In the NFL you can't challenge a play after another occurs.

The problem with this DQ is the process. Sam Ellis was not flagged by umpire during Heat 1, and the Cal State Long Beach coach filed a protest about his athlete in Heat 2 but misstated it as Heat 1. So the referee reviewed video of Heat 1 and noticed Sam Ellis may have stepped on the line, so he was DQ. But the protest had nothing to do with Heat 1. It was only reviewed because the Cal State Long Beach coach put the wrong heat number on the form. So that race should not have been reviewed in any case. It's a slippery slope to go back and review races where there was no flag during the race or protest afterwards. How fair is that??? Coach Powell also pointed out anyone can pay $100 to file a protest about any event.