Garfield Stays Home in Error : Cross-country: A scoring mistake in the City championships kept the boys’ team from running in the state meet.

A scoring error in the City Section boys’ cross-country championship Nov. 17 deprived Garfield High School of an opportunity to compete in the state meet nine days ago.

There was no attempt to rectify the error, nor was it disclosed to the parties involved at the time, even though it was found on Nov. 20, four days before the state meet.

Woodland Hills Taft had originally been announced as scoring 115 points, second to champion Belmont, with Garfield third at 117. Three days later, a computer check of hand scoring showed that Garfield and Taft actually tied, 107-107, and Garfield should have been the runner-up because of a better finish by its sixth-place--or first non-scoring--runner.

Taft and Belmont advanced to the state meet at Fresno, at which Belmont finished fourth and Taft sixth in Division I.

City Section Director Hal Harkness said that, according to City rules, results announced after the meet at Pierce College in Woodland Hills were official, and when the mistake was discovered it was too late to correct because the entries to the state meet had been finalized.

“According to the rules, any challenge to the scores would have to be made at the meet,” Harkness said.

Because of a computer malfunction, only team totals and the top 15 finishers were posted at the City meet.

Harkness declined to identify the scorer for the meet, saying only it was a veteran at the job.

“If I wanted to hide (the error), I would have never mailed out the results,” Harkness said. “It would have been easy, and no one would have figured it out. It’s an unfortunate situation, but it’s not the end of the world.”

Tell that to Garfield’s runners.

“There were about 20 kids in the office when we started adding up the scores, and when we found out we should have run in the state meet, the entire room was silent,” Garfield Coach Steve Wright said. “Everybody has an empty feeling. Six out of my seven top runners are seniors, and it was their dream to run in the state meet. They worked hard and earned the right. They didn’t go.”

Results were mailed over Thanksgiving and were not received by most coaches until Nov. 26, two days after the state meet.

Nine of the ten boys team scores behind Belmont deviate from the original results, but only the second and third-place standings were affected.

All 10 team scores in the girls’ race were incorrect, but scoring did not affect the qualifying teams.

Harkness believes that the error might have occurred because non-scoring runners--teams were allowed up to 10 runners, though only the top five scores should have counted--were included. He added that only Wright had contacted him about the error.

Taft Coach Mel Hein was not aware of the situation until contacted by The Times late Saturday night.

“I’m dumbfounded,” he said. “I feel awful for Garfield because they deserved the trip. It’s after the fact, but I’m absolutely shocked that nothing was done.”

Harkness said that the inscription on Garfield’s trophies and City records would be changed to reflect the tie for second.