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LHSAA scoring error takes cross country title from Country Day, gives it to St. Martin's

Posted by Pierce Huff, The Times-Picayune November 18, 2008 11:05AM

NATCHITOCHES, LA. - The Country Day boys cross country team left Northwestern State University on Monday thinking it had won the Class 1A state championship.

St. Martin's left the meet thinking it finished second.

On Tuesday, because of a scoring error by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the Cajuns have to give the championship trophy to St. Martin's.

"You hate to have this happen," LHSAA Commissioner Kenny Henderson said. "There is nothing worse. You're about to tell a team that left here thinking it had won a state championship that they didn't."

The error came about because of a new 25-minute rule, which was approved by the LHSAA in January. The rule stops the race and the team scoring in boys races after 25 minutes and the race and team scoring in girls races after 30 minutes.

The LHSAA originally scored first and second place, Country Day (53) and St. Martin's (54) after the Class 1A race on Monday.

But the 25-minute rule wasn't applied when the team scoring was announced after the Class 1A race, which meant that Ouachita Christian was allowed to score points for runners who had times after 25 minutes.

"It's devastating for the kids to lose on a clerical error." said Country Day athletic director Mike McGuire: "They (The LHSAA) has 48 hours, as we understand the rule, to correct the error. St. Martin's deserves to be champions. It's really an unfortunate situation."

The LHSAA was alerted to the possibility of a mistake in the team scoring hours after the meet on Monday.

"I'm sure if we would have thought about it yesterday we would have caught it yesterday," LHSAA Assistant Commissioner Mac Chauvin said. "It was a clerical error. This is the first year we're dealing with this rule."

The LHSAA officially corrected the scoring mistake on Tuesday, disallowing Ouachita Christian's scoring. This in turn gave St. Martin's one extra point, which allowed it to tie Country Day for the state championship at 53 points.

Since the schools were tied in points for the state championship, the title was decided by a tiebreaker which counts the sixth-best runner on both teams.

St. Martin's sixth-best runner, Ian Jenkins, finished 21st in 18 minutes and 52 seconds. Country Day's sixth-best runner, Sal Krouse, finished 24th in 18:56.

Pierce W. Huff can be reached at phuff@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3809.