By Anthony Bosco
Christopher Mendoza was all pumped up. The senior captain of the Bayside High School varsity cross country team and his teammates were not going to be allowed to run in the Queens championships Friday and he could hardly contain his outrage.
But moments after the race had begun at Cunningham Park, with dozens of runners disappearing out of sight as they traversed the 3.1-mile course, Mendoza had to fight back tears and walk slowly from the starting line back across the field.
“This is completely unfair,” Mendoza said. “It’s not right for the kids to get penalized for something like this. Bayside has never had a cross country championship. This is the one year we finally had something to win and the PSAL takes it away from us. It hurts everybody. It hurts me, personally.”
Bayside was unable to participate in the annual race, which sends the top teams to the city championships, because Commodores coach Frank Waters failed to electronically register the team for the race by the predetermined deadline.
“I know this is an improper use of the word, but it’s a sacrilege,” said team member Max Akulan. “Seriously, this is our one chance to get a championship and it’s not going to happen.”
“I’ve been on this team for four years,” Mendoza said. “We worked our asses off the whole summer, the whole season for this day and it’s all for nothing now. I definitely think we would have won this thing.”
According to PSAL track and field commissioner Robert Zifchak, the league contacted Bayside the Monday prior to the race to inform the school that the team would not be allowed to participate because it did not register on the PSAL Web site. Despite heavy lobbying by the school’s coach, athletic director and principal, an informal PSAL panel decided Wednesday not to allow the team to run.
“Bayside did not enter the meet,” Zifchak said. “The deadline was five days prior to today’s date at midnight and they did not do that. The requirements of the PSAL are if you do not enter, you are not allowed to run. There are no provisions [for making an exception.]
“The situation was discussed at length on Wednesday and a decision was reached,” he added.
“We require that everybody electronically enters the meet, and Bayside failed to do that,” said race director Bob Orazem. “As a result of not entering, they cannot compete today. It’s as simple as that.”
The Bayside team members were not the only ones outraged by the PSAL’s actions.
“I feel that it’s improper for them not to run,” said Newtown coach Jack Dammann, whose team won the event. “But this happened to me at the Queens indoor champs last year. My entry was one day late and they refused to let me run. It’s sad that Bayside didn’t get its entry in on time. I don’t even think we should need entries for our own borough champs.
“It was established that you had to enter and that teams in the past have been penalized for not entering — they can’t make an exception now,” he added. “I feel very bad. I think it’s a shame that any team should be denied the ability to represent its school at a borough championship.”
Van Buren coach Marty Laskin echoed Dammann’s sentiments.
“Everybody knows we’re governed by the PSAL,” Laskin said. “The PSAL has had these new rules in effect for over a year. Everything is now on the Internet. This is the beast we have to serve. I feel bad for the kids, but nobody would have cared if Van Buren got their entry in on time because I don’t have a good team or a powerhouse team.
“I don’t like it, but this is what’s going to happen,” he added. “I wish it were the old days when you just show up to Queens champs and you know you’re going to run. That’s gone. They want it done like this.”
Even a good number of competing runners were disappointed not to get another crack at the Commodores.
“I think it’s wrong,” said Edison’s Umar Adams. “All the teams were training to run against Bayside. Now we won’t know who is the best.”
Waters, who did not attend the event, was defended by his players and fellow coaches.
“I’ve never seen my coach like this,” Mendoza said. “He’s really disappointed. When he told us yesterday that we were not going to run in the Queens championships, he said it with a heavy heart. I was tearing up myself.
“Granted that the entry form was late, but my coach was bending over backwards trying to see what he could do about it,” the senior added. “He offered to give a couple hundred dollars back from his paycheck just so we could run. We went through all these appeals and they’re not budging. They won’t even let us run as individuals.”
Zifchak said that though Bayside, which was favored to win the borough championship, would not be able to enter the city championships, the team members may get to run as individuals in the citywide race and possibly qualify for states.
However, a decision announced Tuesday on the PSAL web site by Senior Track Coordinator Pete Whitehouse and the league has subsequently ruled in favor of Bayside’s appeal to run as a team at the PSAl cross country city championships, to be held Saturday, Nov. 9, at Van Cortland Park.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
