Beachwood Track Team Should Have Right To Compete: Politician

BEACHWOOD, OH — After Beachwood High School's track team was disqualified from the Indoor State Track Championship due to an administrative error, a local politician is lobbying on the team's behalf.

The team was barred from participating in the state tournament after the team's coach failed to register 30 of his athletes before the deadline. The Beachwood Schools have called the missed deadline an "honest mistake" and called for the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches (OATCC) to allow the team in.

State Rep. Kent Smith, a Democrat from Euclid, sent a letter to the Ohio Association of Track and Cross Country Coaches Thursday asking them to reconsider the team's disqualification.

“As a former youth sports coach, a former public school employee, a former high school track athlete and as the current State Representative for Ohio House District 8, I support the young athletes of the Beachwood High School indoor track and field team and believe they deserve to participate in this competition—one in which they have rightfully qualified. A clerical error should not stand in the way of these athletes’ ability to compete,” Smith wrote in his letter.

The OATCC told Fox 8 that 326 teams were able to register for the championship on time, only Beachwood failed to meet the deadline. The Association added that it sent out 11 emails about the registration deadline.