Wow..... I cannot believe that this kind of mistake can go unpunished. Not that I have any idea of what the fine or shalacking should detail. This sort of mistake is darn near blatant and unforgivable, particularly from an official or field judge. If you are not sure you do nothing!
From The Tacoma News Tribune June 2, 2008 at 7:58pm
WIAA reinstates Cochran as state championPosted by Darrin Beene @ 05:00:19 pm Bellarmine Prep's Nicole Cochran ran the Class 4A girls 3,200 meters at Star Track XXVI in 10 minutes, 36 seconds.
It took her 10 days to officially win the state title.
Cochran, whose state-winning effort was nullified by a rules infraction during the first day of the meet, was reinstated as the winner by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
The Harvard-bound Cochran was the runaway winner in that 3,200 race. But a half-hour later, meet officials declared that she was disqualified for making three consecutive steps on the inside line of lane one late in the race. Runner-up Andrea Nelson of Shadle Park was handed the victory.
Bellarmine coaches and officials appealed the decision that night, which was denied.
They took their cause to the WIAA, and sent an appeals letter to executive director Mike Colbrese on Friday night. Colbrese spent much of last weekend interviewing each of the meet officials who were part of the ruling.
His last interview finished up at 11:30 a.m. Monday, and hours later, Colbrese reversed the decision on Cochran.
"The officials simply made a mistake," he said.
Her 10 team points for the victory were also added to the Lions' state-winning total, now a 4A-meet record 86.5 points.
If anyone still wants to watch the race - yes, you see the umpire flags Evans on Lap 6. When the pack comes around on Lap 7, the umpire and referee are together at the fencing. As the pack passes, you can see the umpire looking at the pack to confirm the "violator". He has NO CLUE that there were two BP runners in the pack when the violation occured and that one had been dropped from the pack by the time they reached him again. Inadvertent errors can and do occur - but this one occured because the umpire just didn't know what was going on during the race.
pj-Get your information correct-The DQ was called by a "USATF official" from the Seattle area, signed off by another "USATF official" as head inspector from Seattle and finally acted on by the meet referree from the westside. A number of people from around the state work the state meet at Pasco. A flaw of the internet is it's ability to let uninformed people like pj to slander a group of dedicated people without any recourse. There is as much experience running the state meet in Pasco as there is anywhere in the state of Washington. As with life, we have had to deal with speed bumps within the rules given to us.
Sadly, the meet management did not present a sportsmanship award to the girls 3200 meter winners for what I considered a primo demonstration of sortsmanship. Parents and coaches of those young ladies should should be extremely proud! And to think that the WIAA's motto is "Just Play Fair". WIAA could learn something from those wonderful young ladies.
Pasco has historically refused to allow certified track officials work at the state meet. Pasco repeatedly makes gross errors that hurt athletes because of their lack of proper training. Nicole is not the only athlete damaged by WIAA's resistence to demanding certified officials for star
track even though they demand only the top certified officials for the other sport's state meet. Pressure for qualified officials has been put on the WIAA by coaches and USATF to demand certified officials to no avail. If Nicole's lawyer needs documentation of a continuing pattern of athletes being hurt by untrained officials, the Wa. Coaches Ass. and USATF will be glad to provide videos of other incidents and paperwork demanding quality officials.
well this goes to show that the officeals made a stupid mistake and DQ the wrong runner when it was here teamate that was on the white line but what can we do we who were there know that she ran an aswome race she knows she ran aswome so its done over but I have to say this reminds me of Super Bul 40 i think we all know what was going on there i have said enough thank you
I have been a State Track offical for 27 yrs. I hope that the young lady does sue, as there is no excuse for any error by an offical. It needs to be corrected, even if it is by the court. Sadly it is always the kids that have to suffer for the mistakes made by the adults. JMHO
Well the call of dq at 7:55 was bullshit on Nicole Cochran! But her teammate kayla Evans at 5:09 DID step over the line and around the corner at 5:06 was over the line multiple times! At 7:55 she WAS THE ONE OVER THE LINE NOT HER TEAMMATE NICOLE IT WAS CLEAR AS DAY AS TO WHO WAS THE ONE OVER THE LINE DUMB JUDGE! I feel sorry for Nicoles hard work all year to go to waste on one bad call!
This unfortunate event is in the end great news. I am not a regular follower of track but do have a son in high school involved in other sports. The story is making its way across the country with an emphasis on sportsmanship, doing the right thing and perhaps challenging the need to consider the use of technology. The young woman who stepped off the podium made her decision quickly, without reading articles or debating the matter with others given the short time that passed. Besides the great running by Cochran, this young woman, Andrea Nelson of Spokane, is who I will remember. A selfless act that makes her the winner she would not be had she kept her place. Her community and family should be very proud of her. This story has a lot of traction and I bet it will be in hundreds of papers, magazines and TV shows in the next several weeks. Kudos to the official who also recognized his error and those who would not blindly sign off on it. They are to be thanked for his volunteer work. There are no real enemies here, just a series of unfortunate errors that in the end provide many great object lessons.
The meet management made a mistake. Obviously the meet director has an ego that is not to be messed with. I have known Nicole for years...Sportsmanship is something she takes quite seriously. She was awarded the Aaron Pointer Sportsmanship of the year award in either 2003 or 2004 (http://www.co.pierce.wa.us/pc/abtus/ourorg/parks/APointer.htm#Awards). Nicole is very intelligent and I am sure that the controversy is effecting her greatly. Harvard does not give athletic scholarships. Nicole is valedictorian of her senior class at Bellarmine and has maintained a 4.0 taking AP and honors classes and is greatly respected by the teachers and students at Bellarmine. Obviously some people who post comments are not informed and don't care about looking at the facts. Some people are just mean spirited and enjoy putting others down.
It never fails! In just about any conversation, there will always be someone who will interject comments with sexual overtones. Hey, Speedy_x, what is the statement %u201C%u2026looking at her butt in the 100 and 200%u201D all about? Nicole doesn%u2019t participate in the short events. I don%u2019t know what you were watching. Also, %u201C%u2026BP was afraid to run a 4x200%u201D. Do you have any idea what you are talking about? As far as whether Harvard does or does not give athletic scholarships, Nicole was accepted at Harvard based on her academic achievements, NOT her athletic skills. The grammar and spelling in some of the comments leads me to believe that %u201Cacademic achievement%u201D may be a concept difficult for some to comprehend. Anyway, with SUCH a controversy, it seems that common sense would prevail and folks in charge would WANT to review ALL input, regardless of the source or official rules. The Flotrack video could be just one input source. I am sure there are many other private videos of the race(s). Suing? A lawsuit is not what is needed here. A mistake was made? FIX IT!!!!!!!
or everyone can just get over it and drop it seeing that they cant go back and change it around. i feel bad for nicole.. but sometimes things happen and hopefully the judges will learn for next time, just sucks it was her. but at least she had a few other awesome races so thats great :)
I can't recall whether or not there was a bar on the inside lane when I ran in Pasco for state, although I do know that there was one at Lincoln when state was held there. We did see a few injuries due to that bar on the inside lane, but there were no questions whether or not someone took some steps on that line.
Anyway...where'd that bar go? That would have solved the problem, or... broken someone's ankle. No false dq's there!
This obviously is an injustice to N.Cochran. Someone need to step up & correct this mistake. This athlete deserves the win! plus the meet director should research before he makes a ruling!
what is all this garbage about scholarships. I thought she was going to Harvard. I thought they didn't give athletic scholarships. Even if they they won't take it away after one race. Especially because of an idiot official.
Does it matter? Personly i dont run for any one else but my self. She knows she ran a great race, every one else knows it, what else does she need? also her qualifications as a wonderfull person should not play into any decision making by the WIAA.
Not only would I like to see this gross error made right for my granddaughter, I would like to see an apology to Nicole by the WIAA. Not only is Nicole an accomplished track star she is an incedible young woman who has been focused on this final meet of her senior year, and to see this injustice done was very tough to watch. The judgement call the official made(who is human) is incorrect this video needs to be reviewed and corrected. The official made a correct call, but did not apparently pay enough attention to who stepped on the line.
ok so thats not my real name... but whatever, i am the bellarmine prep team manager, and what isnt covered in all the chaos is that the girl who received 8th didnt even get up on the podium instead everyone passed their medals to the person who earned it. on the other side of the story the official who made the call later quit and turned in his purple shirt(which is what all the officials were wearing) and walked away from the meet later that night... figure that one out. on a positive note the disqualification was reversed, and even though she got her medal it will go down in the history books as a dq. however the 10 points were awarded to the bellarmine girls who won first place in the points total with 86 1/2 points. please due correct me if im wrong but as ive heard this is the new record on points total.
if you want to contact me my email is and ill respond when i get the time
there is no way for the WIAA to fix the mistake.. it is a judgement call by the official and videos can not be used as evidence for anything in high school track and field
I am tired of organized sport being so stubborn about adopting (a) technology and (b) review appeals based on official video. This should be a no-brainer. My suggestion: once there is controversy, review the darn tape. If the official is wrong, no big deal but for criminy sake, overturn the decision. The official made the right call on the wrong girl and clear was not man enough to admit is gross error...in the state finals no less. I thnk the Cochran;s have the right to sue here, since this result may mean a loss of a scholarship or two.
It was clearly not Cochran who stepped on the line. Another example of blind officiating in the sportsworld. The officials should review the Flotrack video and formally declare Cochran the winner.
The race from 2008 that made you wonder "What Were They Thinking"!!! Wrongly DQed Nicole Cochran in the 4A 3200 meters. May 23, 2008 Level: hs Event: 3200
G 3200 4A 3200 
It took her 10 days to officially win the state title.
Cochran, whose state-winning effort was nullified by a rules infraction during the first day of the meet, was reinstated as the winner by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
The Harvard-bound Cochran was the runaway winner in that 3,200 race. But a half-hour later, meet officials declared that she was disqualified for making three consecutive steps on the inside line of lane one late in the race. Runner-up Andrea Nelson of Shadle Park was handed the victory.
Bellarmine coaches and officials appealed the decision that night, which was denied.
They took their cause to the WIAA, and sent an appeals letter to executive director Mike Colbrese on Friday night. Colbrese spent much of last weekend interviewing each of the meet officials who were part of the ruling.
His last interview finished up at 11:30 a.m. Monday, and hours later, Colbrese reversed the decision on Cochran.
"The officials simply made a mistake," he said.
Her 10 team points for the victory were also added to the Lions' state-winning total, now a 4A-meet record 86.5 points.
track even though they demand only the top certified officials for the other sport's state meet. Pressure for qualified officials has been put on the WIAA by coaches and USATF to demand certified officials to no avail. If Nicole's lawyer needs documentation of a continuing pattern of athletes being hurt by untrained officials, the Wa. Coaches Ass. and USATF will be glad to provide videos of other incidents and paperwork demanding quality officials.
^^ they said it perfectly.
NO WAY.
this is old news. sucks for nicole. no one cares anymore.
Anyway...where'd that bar go? That would have solved the problem, or... broken someone's ankle. No false dq's there!
heard cochran was contacted by espn for an interview on friday.
heard cochran was contacted by espn for an interview on friday.
umm... no.
if you want to contact me my email is and ill respond when i get the time
thanks