Dana Hills Takes Its Shot at This Protest

Dana Hills Coach Adam Robbins is protesting the disqualification of his girls’ shotput team during a South Coast League track and field meet Thursday at Mission Viejo, which the Diablos won, 69-67.

The victory kept alive an 18-year South Coast League winning streak for Mission Viejo.

The Dana Hills shotputters were disqualified for using an improperly weighted shot during part of the competition. The disqualification voided senior Lindsay Nicol’s third-place finish for Dana Hills, awarding the point instead to Mission Viejo and nullifying a potential 68-68 tie.

Robbins asked Dana Hills Athletic Director Margie Page to draft a letter to Mission Viejo Principal Marilyn McDowell and the league president, El Toro Principal Jack Clement, requesting that the disqualification be overturned.

For the protest to be upheld, principals from both schools must agree there was a mistake in the disqualification. Possible remedies would include replaying the final round of the shotput competition, Page said.

“There’s no way our principal would ever agree to it,” Mission Viejo Coach Fred Almond said. “The meet official went right into the rule book and there it was.”

Robbins agreed his girls used a shot that was approximately 13 ounces lighter than the girls’ regulation 4 kilograms. But Robbins said Mission Viejo assistant coach Chris Watkins, who officiated the competition, waited until after the final score was tallied before calling for a disqualification.

“[Watkins] said he was going to disallow the first two rounds, but count the third,” Robbins said. “He went back on his word knowing [Mission Viejo was] tied.”

Watkins, who also coaches the girls’ shotput and discus at Mission Viejo, said otherwise.

He said he observed that the Dana Hills team had thrown an 8-pound shot during the first of five rounds, instead of the regulation 4-kilogram shot, which weighs 8 pounds 13 ounces.

Watkins said he immediately confiscated two 8-pound shots and warned the Dana Hills team, which did not have coaches supervising the competition, not to use them again.

“I went to measure a throw,” he said, “then walked back to my chair and [the shots] were gone.”

Watkins said he then noticed Nicol using one of the illegal shots for her second-round put.

“I picked it up again and gave [the shots] to [the head official],” Watkins said.

Watkins said he returned to the shotput ring, unsure of the penalty for using the illegal equipment. He said he scored Dana Hills’ marks with the 4-kilogram shot, then went to the scorer’s table at the end of the meet and met with the head official.

Watkins said the official referred to the National Sports Federation rule book, which said such an infraction would result in a disqualification from the event.

“[The official] made the decision to disqualify them,” Watkins said.

Robbins said he believed the meet official gave Watkins discretion as to whether to allow Nicol’s third attempt.

“[Watkins] said, ‘Look, I could DQ your team, but I’m choosing not to,” Robbins said Watkins told him.

If the protest is denied, Dana Hills will have to wait six weeks to meet Mission Viejo again, in the South Coast League finals.