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                         North Rockland Track & Field                          
                   State Meet Qualifier Winter 07  25-Feb-07                   
                             North Rockland [NR]                               
 
  5  Boys   1600m Run
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team             
===============================================================================
    Figluizzi, Christopher    10 North Rockland     4:56.81 F      
    1:06.80 2:24.20 3:41.60  135.79                                
    Collins, Brendan          08 North Rockland     4:57.15 F      
    1:10.20 1:15.70 1:15.90 1:15.35                                
 
  7  Boys   3200m Run
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  3 Savoia, A J               12 North Rockland     9:45.58 F      
    Maio, Louie               11 North Rockland    10:38.36 F      
    5:08.50 5:29.86                                                
    Carrington, Christopher   10 North Rockland    10:57.67 F      
    5:09.50 5:48.17                                                
 
 15  Boys    Shot Put
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
    Lund, Ray                 12 North Rockland    46-02.50 F      
 
 17  Boys    High Jump
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  4 Maisonette, Alex          11 North Rockland     6-00.00 F      
 
 18  Boys    Pole Vault
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  2 Martinez, Manny           11 North Rockland    12-00.00 F      
    Musa, Demba               12 North Rockland          NH F      
    Grant, John               11 North Rockland          NH F      
 
 20  Boys    Triple Jump
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  5 Sanon, Gladimir           12 North Rockland    42-02.00 F      
 
 24  Boys   4x200m Relay
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
    A  'North Rockland'                                1:38.90 F      
     1) Demba Musa                      2) Anthony Congress               
     3) John Grant                      4) Ronald Lucien                  
      24.69   23.75   25.90   24.56                                
 
 26  Boys   4x800m Relay
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  4 A  'North Rockland'                                8:15.63 F      
     1) Manny Martinez                  2) Yusef Mahmud-Bey               
     3) Christian Mendez                4) A J Savoia                     
    2:07.90 1:58.80 2:04.40 2:04.53                                
 
 37  Boys   55m Dash
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
    Lucien, Ronald            12 North Rockland        7.35 F      
 
 38  Boys   55m Hurdles
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
    Grant, John               11 North Rockland        9.04 F      
    Congress, Anthony         09 North Rockland        9.28 F      
 
 39  Boys   300m Dash
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
  1 Thompson, Norman          12 North Rockland       36.64 F      
    Thompson, Norman          12 North Rockland       37.24 P      
 
 43  Boys   1000m Run
===============================================================================
    Name                     Age Team                   
===============================================================================
    Galvin, Colin             12 North Rockland     2:45.78 F      
    1:03.80 1:08.80   33.18
Athletes protest as registration mix-up eliminates them from Section 1 track meet

By Christopher Hunt
The Journal News

(Original publication: February 26, 2007)
 

WEST POINT - After dozens of athletes were not allowed to compete yesterday, about 30, including coaches and parents, stopped the Section 1 track and field state qualifier at West Point for more than half an hour in protest.

Athletes from Nyack, White Plains and Peekskill sat down 5 meters from the finish line on the track at Gillis Fieldhouse between the first and second heats of the girls 1,000-meter race. The group eventually left the track without incident.

The protest started more than an hour after coaches and parents argued with meet organizers that their children should be allowed to compete in the meet, which could earn them spots at the state track and field championships Saturday at Cornell University in Ithaca. The problem was that they were not entered into yesterday's meet.

For various reasons, there was no record that Peekskill, Pelham, White Plains, Nyack or Mamaroneck had filed entries for their athletes to compete yesterday. The entries were to be submitted through www.onlineentries.com, a site that registers athletes into specific track meets. Some coaches simply forgot to send the online entry but asked that the athletes not be penalized for their mistake.

"If a mistake was made, we can always make exceptions on behalf of the kids," White Plains girls coach Ed Zemmel said.

When Pelham sophomore Brittany Brown went to check into the high-jump competition, the event official informed her that she was not entered in the event.

Peekskill senior Lawrence Campbell was approached by several athletes who asked why they had not seen his name on the list of entrants in the 600 meters, an event in which he holds the fastest time in Section 1 this season. He didn't know.

At the preseason coaches meeting in November, all head coaches were informed that entries for the state qualifier would be done through the Internet this season, the same as last year. Coaches then were reminded at their respective county meets and again at the separate sectional championships.

Section 1 girls coordinator Rosalind Gallino, who is also the New Rochelle boys coach, sent an e-mail Saturday morning reminding coaches to make sure their athletes were listed. They were referred to FinishRight.com, which does the fully automatic timing for the meet and posts results on its Web site.

White Plains boys coach Lamont McCormick and Zemmel said that since White Plains High School was out of session last week, they didn't check their e-mail. Peekskill coach Paul Piliero said he registered his team to compete and remembered seeing a confirmation. But Gallino and boys coordinator Keith Smith, who also coaches Yorktown, said they never received Piliero's team's entry.

"It just said 'accepted,' and I thought that's all I had to do," Piliero said.

Pelham coach Brian Leighton, a first-year coach, said he never received a password to file his entry, and he got no response when he e-mailed FinishRight.com to request one. "No mention of any problems was made until after it was too late to do anything about it," Gallino said.

Coaches were told the meet would accept the top 36 entrants in each event, and if Gallino and Smith allowed athletes to enter at the last minute, it would bump registered athletes from the event.

"It's an issue of fairness," Gallino said. "To move kids whose coaches entered them for kids who were not entered because their coach didn't do the right thing is just not fair. ...

"As a coach, I would be angry as well. But I would have to realize at some point to stop blaming the executive committee and realize I made a mistake."

Before the protest, tension continually rose at the scorer's table, and a number of shouting matches ensued. Soon after, a group began walking down the inside of the track while officials yelled at the athletes to clear the way. Instead, they formed a line across the track and sat down, some in tears, some laughing, others fuming.

"This is my senior year," Peekskill's Campbell said. "All I want to do is run."

Campbell, teammate Brandon Hill and White Plains' Simone Ford were the last to leave the track after urging from their parents and some coaches.

"I worked all year for this," Ford said. "I circled it on my calendar. This was supposed to be my big meet."

Gallino and Smith said they did not know if disciplinary actions would be taken, but said they did not think coaches instigated the protest. Military police were called, but they arrived after the track already had been cleared and competition resumed.