Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Beaten by the rule book part III
This is unfortunately a very common theme in our sport. Bureaucrats who have never run a step in their lives finding a way to negate years of hard work by a great athlete. Nick End ran for Shorewood and then for CM but apparently wont compete at the NCAA's. The following is an e-mail that he sent to several running sites looking for help. What he needs is a good lawyer.
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My name is Nick End and I run for Carnegie Mellon University. This season I qualified for D3 nationals provisionally in the 5k and 10k. My time in the 5k was 23rd on the list and my 10k was 12th. I knew my 10k time would get me in and the 5k wouldn't so my coach and I decided to only declare me for the 10k. On Saturday when my coach declared me for the events, he accidentally clicked on the 5k instead of the 10k. Because of this I was not selected for the national meet. My coach realized the mistake on Sunday morning at 6 am and contacted the selection committee who supposedly reviewed the situation and decided not to let me run because they followed the NCAA rules and it was my coach's mistake. My coach did everything he could to rectify the situation including offering to pay for my trip but the NCAA wouldn't budge. Now because of a clerical error I am not allowed to run at NCAAs my senior year in what would have been my last collegiate race. I have been talking to the NCAA for the past 3 days trying to change the situation. Everyone from the NCAA I talk to says that it's a horrible situation and it isn't right but they aren't willing to change anything because they followed the rules. The NCAA is supposed to protect the athletes and in this case I am being punished for something completely out of my hands. While the mistake is frustrating, that complacency of the NCAA is infuriating. The NCAA claims to hold themselves to high levels of integrity and teach athletes values they can use for the rest of their lives. I see no integrity in letting something like this happen. Let me know what you think or if you can help.
Sincerely,
Nick End
Read more!
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My name is Nick End and I run for Carnegie Mellon University. This season I qualified for D3 nationals provisionally in the 5k and 10k. My time in the 5k was 23rd on the list and my 10k was 12th. I knew my 10k time would get me in and the 5k wouldn't so my coach and I decided to only declare me for the 10k. On Saturday when my coach declared me for the events, he accidentally clicked on the 5k instead of the 10k. Because of this I was not selected for the national meet. My coach realized the mistake on Sunday morning at 6 am and contacted the selection committee who supposedly reviewed the situation and decided not to let me run because they followed the NCAA rules and it was my coach's mistake. My coach did everything he could to rectify the situation including offering to pay for my trip but the NCAA wouldn't budge. Now because of a clerical error I am not allowed to run at NCAAs my senior year in what would have been my last collegiate race. I have been talking to the NCAA for the past 3 days trying to change the situation. Everyone from the NCAA I talk to says that it's a horrible situation and it isn't right but they aren't willing to change anything because they followed the rules. The NCAA is supposed to protect the athletes and in this case I am being punished for something completely out of my hands. While the mistake is frustrating, that complacency of the NCAA is infuriating. The NCAA claims to hold themselves to high levels of integrity and teach athletes values they can use for the rest of their lives. I see no integrity in letting something like this happen. Let me know what you think or if you can help.
Sincerely,
Nick End
Read more!
