CROSS COUNTRY Salem plans suit to run in state meet Saturday

The Quakers were first awarded a spot, then later had it taken away.
By JOE SCALZO
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBUS -- Salem High School plans to file a lawsuit today against the Ohio High School Athletic Association, hoping to get its boys cross country team into Saturday's state championships.
"Our kids are preparing to run on Saturday," said Salem superintendent Dave Brobeck. "We think the OHSAA violated its own rules."
Salem originally was awarded the sixth and final qualifying spot at the Division II regional meet last Saturday at Boardman High. But Cardinal Mooney, which lost the sixth-place tie-breaker to Salem, successfully appealed to have the results reviewed by meet officials, even though the request came after the 10-minute appeal period.
After reviewing the race, officials awarded the final spot to Mooney late Saturday night.
"The OHSAA is very unyielding in its rules," said Brobeck. "I emphasize with other schools, but it came after the appeal period and I'm not convinced the results are accurate.
"You can't tell our kids that they're going to be going, then take it away the next day. That doesn't happen in any other sport."
Not been contacted
Mooney has not been contacted by the OHSAA and will run at the state meet, said Cardinals coach Adrian Mangino. Mangino said Wednesday he had no knowledge of Salem's lawsuit.
"We believe our kids have a right to run," Brobeck said. "We don't want to take Cardinal Mooney's spot. Mooney should not be punished, but neither should Salem."
Jim Fox, tournament director for last week's regional meet, was contacted by the OHSAA earlier in the week and may have to testify in court.
"I'm still waiting to see how far the challenge will go," Fox said.
Fox, along with other officials, reviewed Saturday's race on videotape and also consulted the hand-held results and the results from the "FinishLynx" system that tracks the finish line.
He's confident that the second set of results were accurate.
Corrected results accurate
"We're 100 percent sure the corrected results were the most accurate we have," Fox said. "It would have been an easy thing for us to say to coaches, 'Too bad -- those are results.' But when you know something is wrong, you have an obligation to correct it."
Salem filed the suit in Franklin County Common Pleas Court because the OHSAA headquarters is there.