If we rip apart the rulebook, we are left with this:
In championship and other multiple team meets, a competitor officially becomes a participant in an individual event when the official entry card is delivered to the meet director, or meet director's designee, at the specified time and place.
The official "place" can be DirectAthletics at some specified time (say 6pm like the article says); thus emailing the meet director would not be "at the specified time and place", and the swimmer is not a participant in the meet. And I would concur that this is a proper interpretation of the rule. In North Carolina, all of the coaches are thoroughly reminded at the rules meetings, mailings, and on the website for many years to make their entries on DirectAthletics. It is ultimately the coach's responsibility to ensure that their swimmers are entered in a timely and proper fashion.
Where the AIA is wrong is by saying that "there aren't any options." Since the AIA is essentially conducting the meet, it is serving as the de facto meet director and can modify the entry procedure and create exceptions. For example in North Carolina, the NCHSAA Handbook states that if a school doesn't send in their regional entries by the deadline, the meet director is to call the school to remind them, and accept their entries the day of the late call (provided the entries are accompanied by $100 late fee). Not knowing the procedures in Arizona, I'm not sure what options they have, but to say that there are none is untrue.
I can however see the AIA's position on the matter. By opening up exceptions to the entry rules, it makes it very hard for the state association to apply discretion. For instance, North Carolina's qualifying procedure is very complex. If a coach were able to submit late entries after learning the contents of the psych sheet, (s)he would be at a substantial advantage in knowing what events their athlete were likely to qualify into. It's a lot easier to say, "no this can't be done" rather than "no, we don't want to do this for reasons X, Y, and Z."
The NFHS swimming rules are well known for their strict nature in penalties as opposed to the USA Swimming rules. For example, no shows in events are strictly penalized (disqualification from the event or from the meet, depending on whether the meet is a championship meet or not). Swimming in the wrong lane (even by accident) results in a disqualification (unlike in USA Swimming, which is not an infraction). Jewelry and apparel rules are much stricter (although they are a lot more loose than they were ten years ago). Conduct rules are much more harsh in penalties (whereas there is more discretion in the penalty in USA Swimming). And let's not get started with situations where noncompetitors enter the pool for whatever reason, no matter how inocuous (the noncompetitor is disqualified from further competition, and all of their teammates in that heat are disqualified from the event too). There is a tendency in the high school rule book for more strict and harsh rules than in USA Swimming, and that is a reasonable viewpoint for them to take, even if we may disagree about their choice of wording of the rules.
Would I rule the same way? I don't know. But the ruling was reasonable, and in light of the remainder of the NFHS rules architecture, was not arbitrary and capricious.
Patrick King
If we rip apart the rulebook, we are left with this:
In championship and other multiple team meets, a competitor officially becomes a participant in an individual event when the official entry card is delivered to the meet director, or meet director's designee, at the specified time and place.
The official "place" can be DirectAthletics at some specified time (say 6pm like the article says); thus emailing the meet director would not be "at the specified time and place", and the swimmer is not a participant in the meet. And I would concur that this is a proper interpretation of the rule. In North Carolina, all of the coaches are thoroughly reminded at the rules meetings, mailings, and on the website for many years to make their entries on DirectAthletics. It is ultimately the coach's responsibility to ensure that their swimmers are entered in a timely and proper fashion.
Where the AIA is wrong is by saying that "there aren't any options." Since the AIA is essentially conducting the meet, it is serving as the de facto meet director and can modify the entry procedure and create exceptions. For example in North Carolina, the NCHSAA Handbook states that if a school doesn't send in their regional entries by the deadline, the meet director is to call the school to remind them, and accept their entries the day of the late call (provided the entries are accompanied by $100 late fee). Not knowing the procedures in Arizona, I'm not sure what options they have, but to say that there are none is untrue.
I can however see the AIA's position on the matter. By opening up exceptions to the entry rules, it makes it very hard for the state association to apply discretion. For instance, North Carolina's qualifying procedure is very complex. If a coach were able to submit late entries after learning the contents of the psych sheet, (s)he would be at a substantial advantage in knowing what events their athlete were likely to qualify into. It's a lot easier to say, "no this can't be done" rather than "no, we don't want to do this for reasons X, Y, and Z."
The NFHS swimming rules are well known for their strict nature in penalties as opposed to the USA Swimming rules. For example, no shows in events are strictly penalized (disqualification from the event or from the meet, depending on whether the meet is a championship meet or not). Swimming in the wrong lane (even by accident) results in a disqualification (unlike in USA Swimming, which is not an infraction). Jewelry and apparel rules are much stricter (although they are a lot more loose than they were ten years ago). Conduct rules are much more harsh in penalties (whereas there is more discretion in the penalty in USA Swimming). And let's not get started with situations where noncompetitors enter the pool for whatever reason, no matter how inocuous (the noncompetitor is disqualified from further competition, and all of their teammates in that heat are disqualified from the event too). There is a tendency in the high school rule book for more strict and harsh rules than in USA Swimming, and that is a reasonable viewpoint for them to take, even if we may disagree about their choice of wording of the rules.
Would I rule the same way? I don't know. But the ruling was reasonable, and in light of the remainder of the NFHS rules architecture, was not arbitrary and capricious.
Patrick King
