High Schools Legalized The Assist This Summer

High Schools Legalized The Assist This Summer

In my second week on the job here, I wrote that performatively helping other runners cross the finish line--"the assist"--was a condescending, bad thing tha

Aug 29, 2016 by Dennis Young
High Schools Legalized The Assist This Summer
In my second week on the job here, I wrote that performatively helping other runners cross the finish line--"the assist"--was a condescending, bad thing that should stop

This take came on the heels of news last October that an Iowa high school runner was disqualified from his state championship after winning a race, hopping back onto the course, and dragging another boy the final 15 meters across the finish line.

This summer, the National Federation of State High School Associations (the rule-making body for interscholastic high school sports) responded to the outrage that followed the Iowa disqualification by legalizing the assist.

The new, bad rule reads that "a participant who assists an injured/ill competitor shall not be disqualified if an appropriate health-care professional is not available."

So, the type of person who would feel good about pulling someone across the line will now have to search the stands for a doctor before they do it, and only get disqualified if they see a doctor and then assist anyway.

Watch the most famous collegiate assist in recent years: