IN A STAR-NEWS ONLINE POLL…
Should a Monrovia High School track coach have sought to have a rival pole vaulter disqualified from a key match for wearing a bracelet?

2,142 total votes
YES: 331 votes, or 15.45 percent
NO: 1,811 votes, or 84.54 percent

RELATED LINKS

Pasadena Star-News: Laird caught in national radar screen after controversial disqualification

Pasadena Star-News: Jewelry snafu costs South Pasadena

Sports Illustrated: Where’s the sportsmanship? Girl disqualified for wearing bracelet

By Miguel A. Melendez, Staff Writer

The controversial ruling that disqualified a South Pasadena High School pole vaulter for wearing a friendship bracelet during a dual track meet will stand, and no action will be taken against the coach who pointed out the infraction.

Monrovia High School Principal Darvin Jackson said track team co-coach Mike Knowles’ job is not in jeopardy.

“We just needed to look at all the facts to see what actually transpired,” Jackson said. “That’s what we did with (South Pasadena coach) P.J. (Hernandez) and (assistant coach) C.B. (Richards). We wanted to see if there was any malicious intent, and it was decided that was not the case, and all parties agreed.”

Administrators, athletic directors and track coaches from Monrovia and South Pasadena high schools had an hour-long meeting Wednesday evening to discuss what happened at the April 29 track meet that decided the girls’ Rio Hondo League championship.

In a joint statement released Thursday, both schools agreed Monrovia would keep its first-ever league title and no action would be taken against Knowles, who noted the infraction after South Pasadena’s Robin Laird cleared 7 feet, 6 inches to seemingly win the league title for the Tigers.

News of Knowles’ challenge and Laird’s disqualification has sparked a heated national debate among commentators, bloggers and the media.

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Continue reading “UPDATE: Coach won’t be disciplined for track incident” »

By the way, great read in today’s L.A. Times by Bill Plaschke on a blind baseball player at Chaminade who gets to live a dream he’s waited years.

Plaschke writes:

Really a great and inspiring read.

By Nathan Cambridge, Correspondent

SAN MARINO – Third place in the Rio Hondo League came down to the final game of the regular season for the San Marino and South Pasadena high school baseball teams, and the Tigers came away with a 6-3 victory Thursday.

South Pasadena exploded for five runs on five hits in the fifth inning to secure the third and the final playoff spot from the Rio Hondo League.

“We lost our first game here against San Marino, and I told them I just feel in my heart we’re going to play the last game of the year here and the winner goes to playoffs,” South Pasadena coach Anthony Chevrier said. “And we put ourselves in that position, and then we came out and executed and won the game. It feels great.”

South Pasadena junior Tony Veiller belted a three- run home run in the fifth inning off Titans starter Chris Warren that easily cleared the fence in left field, giving the Tigers their first lead of the game, 3-2. It was a lead the Tigers never relinquished.

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Continue reading “Baseball: South Pasadena clinches third and final spot” »

CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY OF SOUTH PASADENA’S ROBIN LAIRD

RELATED LINKS:

Pasadena Star-News: National media takes hold of track incident, put their own spin on it

Los Angeles Times: A jewelry controversy in Pasadena

The Wall Street Journal: Daily Fix High School Sports Feel-Good Spectrum

Dallas Morning News: Pole vaulter disqualified because of a friendship bracelet, really?

Salt Lake Tribune: California track coach needs lesson in sportsmanship

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Sportsmanship vs. gamesmanship

Las Vegas Review-Journal: Costly Jewelry

St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: Team disqualified because of friendship bracelet

Gainsville (Fla.) Sun: Season of the Weird: Will it ever end?

MaxPreps.com: Old coaching dogs up to same old tricks

Pasadena Star-News: Jewelry snafu costs South Pasadena track league title

Sports Illustrated: Where’s the sportsmanship? Girl disqualified for wearing bracelet

Arkansas Sports: Good Thing This Kind of Bad Sportsmanship Doesn’t Happen Here

SpartanTailGate.com: Disqualified for wearing bracelet, opposing coach right or wrong?

Yahoo! Sports: Pole vaulter disqualified for wearing bracelet

Six Billion Stories and Counting (SBS.com): A fault in the vault

SportsRumorMill.com: Championship undone due to… friendship bracelet?

Fan Nation: Sometimes in sports, rules are made to be broken

Deadspin: Awesome Track Coach Wins League Championship By Disqualifying Girl

The Big Lead: Track Team Loses League Championship Because Of A Bracelet

ABC7.com: HS track team gets disqualified over bracelet

By Miguel A. Melendez, Staff Writer

SOUTH PASADENA — Commentators, bloggers and the national media continued Wednesday to debate the finish of a dual track meet that ended in controversy when a pole vaulter was disqualified for wearing a friendship bracelet.

The April 29 meet between South Pasadena and Monrovia high schools hit the national radar screen Tuesday when Sports Illustrated published a detailed piece about pole vaulter Robin Laird’s disqualification.

“Right now it seems as if its turned into a monster of its own,” said South Pasadena track coach P.J. Hernandez. “I never thought it would get this much publicity … Now this is national coverage its crazy”

During the April 29 meet, Monrovia co-coach Mike Knowles pointed out Laird’s friendship bracelet violated national rules prohibiting jewelry. He did it after Laird cleared 7-feet-6-inches and seemingly won the Rio Hondo League title for Tigers.

Knowles was instructed Wednesday not to discuss the incident.

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Continue reading “Track: South Pasadena’s Laird caught in whirlwind of national radar screen after controversial disqualification” »

By Aram Tolegian, Staff Writer

Mike McFarland, who was the head football coach at Pasadena High School last season, has been offered and has accepted the Temple City job vacated by Anthony White, who resigned in late February after one season. McFarland is now awaiting the results of a standard background check and school board approval before making it official. McFarland, who graduated from Arcadia in 1993, previously coached offensive line at Muir in 2001 before several small-college stops. He went 5-5 last year in his lone season at Pasadena. He’s expected to teach government and economics at Temple City.

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Continue reading “Football: McFarland lands at Temple City, Muir searching for final puzzle piece, but what does this mean for PHS?” »