Indiana high school claims relay team was disqualified because of 'flat-out lie,' wants reinstatement
INDIANAPOLIS – A Pike High School relay team was disqualified from the postseason, even though the track referee making the call later rescinded it, according to a Pike coach.
“I’m still waiting for someone to tell me what I’m supposed to tell my kids,” said Courtney Bishop, the Pike boys track coach. “Nobody is saying this happened. Nobody. This might be a first in IHSAA history.”
At Thursday’s Southport Sectional, Pike finished first in the 1,600-meter relay. Afterward, according to Bishop, Speedway coach Nick Beard said a non-competing Pike athlete (not in the race) went onto the track and interfered with a Speedway runner.
“Never happened,” Bishop said.
The coach posted video of the race on Facebook. There is no evidence of such an incident.
Bill Perdue, the referee, disqualified Pike and advanced Speedway to first. Both relay teams would have made the Indiana High School Athletic Association regional anyway by finishing in the top three.
Bishop said the referee later wrote the IHSAA, saying the disqualification should be overturned.
When contacted by IndyStar, Perdue said he could not comment. Bishop said he met with Paul Neidig, commissioner of the IHSAA. Neidig has not replied to an IndyStar request for comment.
Bishop, a former Indiana University half-miler who has been coaching for 30 years, called the disqualification “the most egregious thing” he has seen in track and field.
Speedway athletic director Brian Avery said Speedway never filed a formal complaint.
“The official made a decision based on what he saw,” Avery said. “As I told the Pike administration and IHSAA, we’ll support any decision that is made.”
Bishop said he rejects the notion that the DQ was a judgment call similar to block/charge in basketball or balls-and-strikes in baseball. The call was not made on the spot but “after the event was over,” Bishop said, and based on “a flat-out lie.”
Relay runners were Ryland Bass, Kam Jackson, Malachi Clark and Troy Golden. Pike was set to alter the lineup for regional and was aiming at a high state finish.
Bishop said he was told the incident will teach his runners life is unfair. He said what they learned is that even when they work hard to achieve something, “Somebody is going to take it away from them.”
The 2021 heartbreak is the latest in a series for the Red Devils. They were edged by North Central, 42-41, in 2019 for what would have been the program’s first state championship. Boys scoring 35 of Pike’s 41 points were returning in 2020, but that first state title was not possible because the pandemic canceled the season.
Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.