2015
You Are The Referee Situations
Presented by Jim Fox and John Daubenspeck
Greater Youngstown Track Officials
Association
Situation #1
• The public address announcer has notified fans and
teams the girls Team A has a 1 point lead over Team B
and a 2 point lead over Team C going into the 4x400
relay (last event). During the race, runner A3 has a 70
meter lead over Runner B3 and runner C3. A3 suddenly
vomits straight up into the air, into her own eyes, hair
and forehead. She stumbles to her left off the track for
4 small strides. A3 gets back on the track takes 2 more
strides and vomits again, staggering off the track for
several more strides.
(Three variations follow.)
Situation #1
• Situation 1A
• After taking a breath or two, A3 goes back on
the track with B3 and C3 now 2 meters
behind. A3 completes a legal handoff, and
Team A wins the relay. Coaches from Teams B
and C protest, citing unfair advantage and lane
violations.
• Situation 1B
• After taking a breath or two, a teammate of
A3 hands her a towel to wipe herself off, A3
goes back on the track and completes a legal
handoff. Team A wins the relay. Coaches from
Teams B and C protest, citing unfair advantage
and lane violations.
• Situation 1C
• After taking a deep breath, the coach of Team
A pats A3 on the back, hands her a towel and
encourages her to get back on the track. A3
completes a legal handoff, and Team A wins
the relay. Coaches from Teams B and C
protest, citing unfair advantage and lane
violations.
•
•
•
•
4-6-5
Case book page 40
5-12-1
5-13-1
• Situation 1A – in the opinion of the referee, no
advantage gained, no interference, therefore no
DQ
• Situation 1B, 1C – DQ, in the opinion of the
referee, providing the towel was an aid, therefore
an unfair act since it was during the race
Situation #2
• A long jumper from Team A lands in the pit,
somersaulting forward after landing. He then
leaves the pit by walking forward.
Situation #2
• 7-6-13c
• No foul, since the somersault was not during
the attempt before making contact with the
sand
Situation #3
• When results from the 200 m dash are
imported to the scoring software from the
photofinish image, an error occurs resulting in
the misplacement and advancement of
several competitors. This error is not noticed
until qualifiers are posted and announced, and
several coaches voice protests.
Situation #3
• 2-3-1, page 10
• Case book situation 2-3-1 E, page 8
• The referee, treating this as a clerical error,
instructed the FAT evaluator and scorer to
make the corrections
• Electronic malfunctions affecting placing and
scoring are clerical errors
Situation #4
• In the semifinals of the 4x100 m relay during
the league championship meet of a 9 team
league being held on an 8 lane track, there is a
false start, resulting in the disqualification of 1
team. The referee is asked to decide if the
semifinals are necessary or if the race can be
run as a finals-only event.
Situation #4
• 3-2-3f
• 3-2-4m
• After consulting the games committee, the
referee decided to instruct the scorer to reseed the race as finals only
• Responsibilities of the referee (3-4-6) authority for ruling on infractions or
irregularities not covered in the rules
Situation #5
• Five athletes from Team A check in for the
4x200 m relay, saying they will wait until after
the 100 m dash to designate which 4 will
compete in the relay. The clerk asks the
referee if the relay then counts as an event for
all 5 athletes.
Situation #5
• 4-1-2
• 4-1-3
• Referee ruled that all 5 are charged with an
event
• Preventive officiating by the clerk could have
prevented this situation
Situation #6
• In the boys 4x200 m relay, runner A3 completes a
legal handoff to A4 who takes 2 strides then
drops the baton. The baton bounces straight up
and into the hands of A3, who is slowing down in
the exchange zone. A4 slows down and turns
back, A3 catches the bounced baton and tosses it
to A4 who then completes the race. The incident
occurs within the exchange zone with no
interference. The umpire is shielded from viewing
the incident by other runners, and makes no call.
The referee heard the baton strike the track, and
turned to see A3 toss the baton to A4.
(continued)
• Situation 6A – no coaches protest
• Situation 6B – coach from Team B protests
citing unfair advantage
• Situation 6C Coaches from Teams B and C
protest asking for a re-run due to exchange
violations
Situation #6
•
•
•
•
•
•
5-10-5, page 36
5-10-7, page 37
5-11-2, page 38
3-4-6, page 14
Baton must be handed, not thrown
However, without a report from an official or
the violation being seen by the referee, no DQ
can be made
Situation #7
• In the girls regional 800 m run, A1 and B1 are
running in 6th and 7th places respectively in the
turn following the completion of lap 1. As the
inside runner (A1) veers out to pass another
runner, the outside runner (B1) veers in toward
the curb. The runners collide and both fall. They
resume the race after being passed by a number
of other runners, finishing well back in the final
standings. The coach of runner A1 filed an
appeal, claiming interference.
Situation #7
• Since the umpire on the scene as well as other
officials who viewed the incident could not
determine who was at fault, no
disqualification was made.
• The appeal was denied, since the umpire who
raised a yellow flag could not determine who
was at fault in the collision
• 5-9-1
Situation 8
• As runners in the boys 100 m dash finish, a
finish judge notices that A1 is wearing a large
earring. She reports this to the referee, along
with the athletes name, school and jersey
number.
• 4-3-3
• 9-6-3
• No violation – prohibition against jewelry has
been removed
Situation 9
• A high jumper begins her approach to the bar
57 seconds after she is called up, clearing the
bar just after 1 minute passes. A coach from
an opposing team protests that it should be a
miss since she did not complete the attempt
in under the 1 minute time limit.
• No violation – trial must be initiated within 1
minute, not necessarily completed.
• 7-4-14d, page 55
• Rule clarification for this year
Situation 10
• A discus thrower continues to spin after
releasing his discus, moving toward the back
of the ring as he does so. After the discus
lands, he continues his motion out of the back
of the ring. The official calls the throw a foul
since the thrower did not wait until he called
“mark”.
• No violation. Rule change – athletes may leave
the back half of the circle after the implement
lands, even though the official does not call
“Mark”, nor must they be “under control”.
• 6-4-9f, page 44
• 6-5-9g, page 46
• 6-6-11f (javelin), page 49
• Under no circumstances is it appropriate to
use still photos or videos provided by coaches,
parents or other spectators to make officiating
decisions.
• The following photos are being used for this
clinic only to describe situations and generate
discussion
Situation #11
• The following pictures were taken during an
exchange in the US vs the World men’s 4x400
race at the 2014 Penn Relays.
This PowerPoint will be available Saturday
evening at:
http://www.gytoa.com
If you encounter situations that would
be interesting to discuss at the clinic
next year, please send a description of
them to John Daubenspeck at
john.daubenspeck@myepschools.org