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DATE: Wednesday, May 24, 2006
BYLINE:  By RICH RUPPRECHT
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

SIX EMPIRE RUNNERS DISQUALIFIED
NINE IN ALL PENALIZED FOR RUNNING INSIDE LINES AT LAST WEEK'S NCS MEET 

   Maria Carrillo senior runner Ryan Aldridge was looking forward to capping his high school career with 
an appearance at this weekend's North Coast Section Meet of Champions at UC Berkeley.
   When Aldridge finished third in Saturday's 3,200-meter race at San Marin High in Novato he'd accomplished 
his goal of qualifying for the MOC.
   Then Aldridge and teammate Nathan Huckeba found out they'd been disqualified by race officials for taking 
too many steps inside a white line. The San Marin track didn't have a curb on the inside of the first lane 
like most tracks, using a white line that runners in the distance races aren't allowed to cross.
   There were nine disqualifications in all, two in the boys' 800, one in the girls' 800, three in the boys' 
3,200 and three in the girls' 3,200. Six of the nine were Empire runners. Three of the nine finished high 
enough to qualify for the MOC.
   ``I'd just got off the phone with a friend and told him I'd finished third and was going to MOC,'' 
Aldridge said. Then 10 minutes later my dad comes up to me and said Nate and I had been disqualified. I was 
in shock.''
   Huckeba, a sophomore, finished seventh in the 3,200 to qualify, Kyle Louv of Eureka would have qualified 
in the 3,200 and Cardinal Newman's Bryan Vann would have qualified in the 800.
   Freshman Laura Rogina of Windsor and Montgomery's Jennifer Martindill, a senior, were also DQ'ed in the 
girls' 3,200 for crossing the white line.
   NCS Associate Commissioner Gil Lemmon said it was an unfortunate incident, but it was a judgment call by 
race officials. He said a jury of appeals reviewed the disqualifications at the meet and voted to deny any 
appeal and uphold the disqualification.
   ``They violated National Federation rules by running inside the (first) lane,'' Lemmon said. ``I'm not 
happy about having to disqualify kids. You have to abide by the rules.''
   Danny Aldridge, Ryan's dad and the track coach at Maria Carrillo, said he's not angry about the 
disqualification, he's just not sure the judges caught all the rule violators. He said it almost seemed 
like arbitrary decisions and he questioned whether the judges were in the areas they should have been. 
Aldridge said a parent from one of his runners took a digital photo of another Carrillo runner who had one 
foot inside the white line and it looked as if his next step also would have been inside the line. That 
runner wasn't disqualified.
   The rule is more than two steps inside the white line is grounds for disqualification.
   There were also rumors that there were similar problems in the Marin County Athletic League meet also at 
San Marin the week before the Redwood Empire meet. But there were no disqualifications in that meet.
   ``If they knew they had a problem maybe they could have coned if off,'' Danny Aldridge said.

OVER THE LINE

WERE HEADED
TO MOC MEET:
Ryan Aldridge, Sr., M. Carrillo (3,200)
Nathan Huckeba, So., M. Carrillo (3,200)
Bryan Vann, Sr., C. Newman (800)

OTHERS DQ'D:
Laura Rogina, Fr., Windsor (3,200)
Jennifer Martindill, Sr., Montgomery (3,200)
Inez Lyle, Sr., Ukiah (3,200) 

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