Pool Rule Brings Good, Bad News

By DARREN COOPER, STAFF WRITER

PARAMUS Second place was heaven for Leonia and heartbreak for River Dell/New Milford.

A strange double disqualification in the girls 400 freestyle relay cost the Hawks the first North Jersey Swim League championship to Rutherford, while the River Dell/New Milford boys won the team title over Leonia on Saturday at Bergen Community College.

“It’s a bad way to lose a meet, it’s a bad way to win a meet,” Rutherford coach Ken Berk said. “It would have been better if we had out-swam them in the pool, but I am not going to give the win back. We worked hard all year.”

River Dell/New Milford needed to finish among the top six in the final 400 freestyle relay to clinch the title.

The Hawks’ “A” relay team touched the wall first, while the “B” relay was fourth. However, according to the meet officials, a member of the Hawks’ “A” relay left Lane 3 to congratulate a Tenafly swimmer in Lane 4 while there were still girls competing. The “B” relay was disqualified for having a swimmer enter the water early.

That left Rutherford with a 103-101 win, and River Dell/New Milford coach Chris Armen considering a protest.

“What I saw in the rulebook was that [the action] shall not affect the swimmer in that lane,” Armen said. “If they said she went into the next lane, well, that relay was already done. It was the two relays on the end that were still swimming. She was in Lane 3, so it didn’t affect the girls who were still swimming.”

The controversy overshadowed a strong meet by the Leonia boys, who capped their first season in the pool with a second-place finish. Tom Eickelberg won two races for the Lions, while Ricky DeCicco took the 100 freestyle.

(c) 2007 Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.