For those who saw or are familiar with the Lewallen/Heil match, how is such an egregious error allowed? This can't possibly be the first time that a clock error has occurred. Yet the lead official essentially claimed that human error can't be reversed. Heil was robbed.
"Campbell’s Josh Heil, the No. 20 seed at 149, looked like he had earned a 6-5 tiebreaker upset win over Oklahoma State No. 4 seed Boo Lewallen. The two had started neutral with 7 seconds left and Lewallen had pursued Heil, but the Camel had held him off as they veered out of bounds.
That started a bizarre series of events. Several people matside pointed to the score clock, which still read 0:07. The referees conferred and ultimately decided that since there was a clock error, the wrestlers would have to contest the final 7 seconds again.
This time, Lewallen got in on a single-leg takedown and converted it for a 7-6 win.
Campbell then threw the brick to challenge. After conferring with NCAA rules officials, the win went to Lewallen.
In a live interview afterward on ESPN, NCAA Wrestling National Coordinator of Officials Tim Shiels explained the referees’ position.
He said that since the clock hadn’t started, there is no relief in the rulebook to time the wrestling that had gone on by watching the replay with a stopwatch or other timing device.
“Our reviewers have to have something concrete. They can’t guess and say, ‘well, it should have been 3 or 4 seconds. They have to have proof off the video. And without that clock moving, we’ve got a clock error, which is unfortunate,” he said.
When asked if the reviewers could have used a stopwatch with the video of the match to determine how much time should have gone off the clock, Shiels shook his head no and said, “It’s not per se in the rule book.”
"Campbell’s Josh Heil, the No. 20 seed at 149, looked like he had earned a 6-5 tiebreaker upset win over Oklahoma State No. 4 seed Boo Lewallen. The two had started neutral with 7 seconds left and Lewallen had pursued Heil, but the Camel had held him off as they veered out of bounds.
That started a bizarre series of events. Several people matside pointed to the score clock, which still read 0:07. The referees conferred and ultimately decided that since there was a clock error, the wrestlers would have to contest the final 7 seconds again.
This time, Lewallen got in on a single-leg takedown and converted it for a 7-6 win.
Campbell then threw the brick to challenge. After conferring with NCAA rules officials, the win went to Lewallen.
In a live interview afterward on ESPN, NCAA Wrestling National Coordinator of Officials Tim Shiels explained the referees’ position.
He said that since the clock hadn’t started, there is no relief in the rulebook to time the wrestling that had gone on by watching the replay with a stopwatch or other timing device.
“Our reviewers have to have something concrete. They can’t guess and say, ‘well, it should have been 3 or 4 seconds. They have to have proof off the video. And without that clock moving, we’ve got a clock error, which is unfortunate,” he said.
When asked if the reviewers could have used a stopwatch with the video of the match to determine how much time should have gone off the clock, Shiels shook his head no and said, “It’s not per se in the rule book.”
