The NCAA released a statement today in regards to the overturned disqualification of North Carolina State's 200 freestyle relay from prelims at today's 2015 Men's NCAA Championships. The meet timing system registered a -.03 reaction split from North Carolina State's 2nd leg swimmer Ryan Held. Normally in this case, this is a disqualification. But, after video review, the call was overturned.
"The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Swimming & Diving Committee upheld a protest to overturn a
disqualification that occurred in the third and final heat of the 200-yard men’s freestyle relay qualifying
heats today.
The committee used Rule 4 – 2 which states in part “(the committee) shall have discretionary power to
set aside the application of a rule when there is apparent unfairness.” The committee set aside Rule 4-
14-7 which allows a referee to review video of relay exchanges because the referee onsite did not have
a conclusive view of the swimming exchange to be able to reverse the protest. The team disqualification
was overturned due to issues surrounding the timing system.
Committee chair Bill Ball issued the following statement regarding the committee’s decision. “We
looked at all the information we had available at our disposal and it was clear that we had some issues
with the timing system that extended across all three qualifying heats. We felt that we had clear
evidence that the system was not operating properly and we chose to eliminate all the electronic
readings and go with human judge decisions in the event. The committee acted in the best interests of
all 21 teams that were entered in the event.”