In the latest case of athletes being banned from competitions they qualified for due to clerical and eligibility errors beyond their control, a Massachusetts high school senior was not allowed to run in a state championship meet on Thursday, June 1.
Rhiannon Vos had every right to toe the line for the last race of her high school career. She’d run a qualifying race at a district meet just last week, but her school’s athletic director mistakenly submitted the wrong time. Despite the school admitting the error to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), the governing body would not budge on its decision.
Vos’s school even reached out to state representative Steven Xiarhos, asking for help persuading the MIAA to make an exception for the runner, who by the facts, had earned her spot at the state championship.
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“Yeah, a mistake was made, but let’s not make another one,” Xiarhos told NBC Boston. “This girl should run. She’s an honor student, she’s going to run in college, and this is her last run and she earned it.”
When Xiarhos asked the organization why, even after the school admitted the mistake, Vos was banned from the competition, he was told, “If they make an exception for one, they have to for someone else.”
Vos told NBC Boston, “If you spend months doing something and you qualify, then you expect to go. I think they should just try and think about the kids a little bit more.”
As a junior, Vos set school records in the mile and two-mile, and was selected as team captain. In a Cape Cod Chronicle interview last year, Vos’s now-retired cross country and track coach told the newspaper, “Regarding boys and girls distance runners over my 40-plus years of coaching, Rhiannon is one of the best. I’m very proud of her.”
The distance runner will join the team at the University of Vermont next year.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Like the Wind Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
