Latest news with #NorthSalinas
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
High school sprinter stripped of state title after celebration is deemed unsportsmanlike
North Salinas sophomore Clara Adams, center, wins a preliminary heat in the girls' 400 meters Friday at the CIF State Track & Field Championships in Clovis. She finished first in the finals the next day but was stripped of the title because of a celebration that was deemed by meet officials to be unsportsmanlike. (Steve Galluzzo / For The Times) North Salinas High sophomore Clara Adams ran the fastest time in the girls' 400-meter finals at the CIF State Track & Field Finals last weekend. She crossed the finish line .28 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Advertisement But Adams is not the state champion. She was stripped of that title after she used a fire extinguisher to spray her cleats while on the field inside the track moments after the race. "I was robbed," Adams, 16, told The Times shortly after being disqualified from that event as well the 200 finals, which took place later in the meet. Adams said CIF officials told her that she was being disqualified because she had been "unsportsmanlike," but that's not how she saw it at all. "I was having fun," Adams said, noting her win in the 400 marked her first state title. "I'd never won something like that before, and they took it away from me. I didn't do anything wrong." Advertisement She added: "I worked really hard for it and they took it from me, and I don't know what to do." Days later, David Adams, who said he is the sprint coach at North Salinas, told The Times his daughter was "doing better" but still trying to cope with everything that unfolded Saturday afternoon at Buchanan High in Clovis. Read more: Transgender track athlete wins gold in California state championships despite Trump threat 'Clara's hurt. She's hurt right now," David Adams said Wednesday. "She's better today than Saturday. Saturday was fresh. It just happened. It was a shock. She felt numb. They made her sit there and watch while they put those other girls on the podium, knowing Clara's the fastest 400-meter runner in the state of California.' Advertisement Clara Adams has been running competitively since age 6, her father said. She finished fourth in the 400 at last year's state meet and won the event with a state-best time of 53.23 at the Central Coast Section championships last month. After posting the top qualifying time in Friday's preliminaries, Adams surged ahead of Madison Mosby of St. Mary's Academy in Inglewood to win the race with a time of 53.24. Immediately afterward, Adams walked over to the wall in front of the stands and found her father, who reached down and handed her what he described as a "small" fire extinguisher. She then walked back across the track into the grass, where she sprayed her cleats as if she was putting out a fire — a move her father said was a tribute to former U.S. sprinter Maurice Greene, who similarly celebrated his win in the 100 at the 2004 Home Depot Invitational in Carson. CIF officials apparently were not amused and disqualified Adams on the spot, awarding first place to Mosby. According to rules established by the National Federation of State High School Assns., "unsporting conduct" is defined as behavior that includes but is not limited to 'disrespectfully addressing an official, any flagrant behavior, intentional contact, taunting, criticizing or using profanity directed toward someone.' The penalty is disqualification from the event in which the behavior took place and further competition in the meet. The CIF did not respond to a request for comment from The Times. Advertisement According to David Adams, the officials 'were really nasty" toward his daughter. They "tugged on her arm," he said, "they were screaming in her face. I could hear it from where I was at. I could see it — I couldn't hear exactly what they were saying, but they were just really nasty." Read more: Long Beach Poly boys' 4x400 relay team shines at state track and field championships Clara Adams said she specifically asked the officials to speak with her father about the disqualification, but they refused. "They kept telling me, 'It's OK,' and I was telling them, 'It's not OK,' and they didn't care," she said. "They were trying to smile in my face, like them telling me 'no' amused them or something." Advertisement David Adams said the officials would only speak to North Salinas head coach Alan Green, who declined to speak to The Times for this story. 'They told him that it was unsportsmanlike conduct," David Adams said of the officials' discussion with Green. "We were asking for the rule, the specific rule of what she did, and they didn't really give anything. It was more of a gray area that gives them discretion to pick and choose what they feel is unsportsmanlike conduct." Read more: Prep talk: Birmingham's Antrell Harris reaches peak form with 10.24 in 100 meters Adams disputes that his daughter behaved in a manner that could be considered unsportsmanlike. Advertisement "Looking at the film, Clara is nowhere near any opponent," he said. "She's off the track, on the grass. Her opponents are long gone off the track already, so she wasn't in their face. It was a father-daughter moment. ... She did it off the track because she didn't want to seem disrespectful toward nobody. And they still found a reason to take her title away. They didn't give her a warning or anything.' He added that his daughter is a "very humble, really sweet kid." "I take responsibility for the situation. I'm taking full responsibility," he said. "Clara has run several championship races and won and walked off the track. It's just weird that she celebrates one time and now people, these strangers, these middle-aged people want to chase after her character?" Greene, the four-time Olympic medalist who inspired Clara's celebration, told KSBW-TV in Salinas that the CIF should reconsider its decision. Advertisement Read more: Greene, Jones Run Like Wind at Carson "If [the celebration] was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her," Greene said. David Adams said he is trying to make that happen but so far the CIF won't return his calls . 'We have an attorney on standby right now," he said. "I don't want to take it there, but I will fight this all the way. As long as I'm breathing I'm gonna fight it. But we're trying to go through proper channels to give the CIF an opportunity to do the right thing. Having an attorney involved is our last resort, that means we tried everything.' Advertisement Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Ex-Olympian hits out after high school track star was disqualified for copying his 'unsportsmanlike' celebration
Former Olympic champion Maurice Greene has called for the high school track star disqualified from a state championship for recreating one of his famous celebrations to be reinstated. Clara Adams, a runner for North Salinas High School in California, was stripped of her 400m state title at the weekend and disqualified from the meet as a whole after she celebrated in a way the governing body deemed 'disrespectful'. After finishing second in the preliminary heats, she crossed the line in first to take the gold for her own before running over to her father as he produced a fire extinguisher. She grabbed the extinguisher from her father and sprayed her shoes with it - as if to say that they were on fire - in a celebration reminiscent of Greene's after he won the 100-meter dash at the 2004 Home Depot Invitational. Though despite her father claiming it took place away from her competitors and that she 'wasn't disrespecting anyone', the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) decided the celebration was unsportsmanlike and stripped Adams' of her championship before throwing her out of the meet. And Greene - who won two Olympic gold medals in his own career - believes Clara's disqualification should be overturned if the celebration was performed away from her competitors. 'When I heard, cause it happened, and then people just started calling me 'This girl who just ran the 400 did your celebration' I was like huh? What?' the ex-athlete told KSBW-TV on Monday. 'If it was away from everyone and not interfering with anyone, I would say reinstate her.' Adams crossed the line with a time of 52.24 seconds, just one-hundredth slower than the state-leading time she achieved the week prior. After being disqualified, she was prevented from competing in the 200m event later that day. 'I don't know what's going through my mind right now,' Clara told the Monterey Herald. 'I'm disappointed and I feel robbed. I am in shock. They (officials) yelled at me and told me "we're not letting you on the podium." They took my moment away from me.' David, meanwhile, claimed they were 'on the other side of the wall' from the track while alleging that the decision to disqualify his black daughter was due to her race. 'We have protested the decision, I feel it was racially motivated,' he told the Herald. Adams' coach, Alan Green, called it 'a very unfortunate event', adding, 'We are all heartbroken. Clara ran an incredible 400 race and is the fastest 400-meter girl in the state. 'She was trying to have some fun at the finish line after the 400. It was interpreted as unsportsmanlike. 'What an incredible season and run. It's unfortunate.'
Fox News
02-06-2025
- General
- Fox News
California girls track star gets disqualified from state championships over celebration
The California state track and field championships were under increased scrutiny because of a transgender athlete who participated in and won the girls' high jump and triple jump events. A separate controversy flew underneath the radar, and it had to do with the varsity girls 400 finals. Sophomore Clara Adams, of North Salinas High School, finished in second place in the prelims and came off the starting line quickly in the finals and ran her way to a first-place finish, or so she thought. Adams celebrated with her father after winning the race. She took a fire extinguisher from her father and sprayed her shoes with it, alluding to her being on fire, the Monterey Herald reported. Clara's father, David, said the celebration was done away from opponents. "She wasn't disrespecting anyone," he told the outlet. The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) determined that Adams' celebration was unsportsmanlike, and Adams' state championship was taken away. She was also disqualified from the meet and lost an opportunity to compete in the 200-meter race as well. David Adams told the outlet that the CIF's decision was protested and said he felt like the disqualification was "racially motivated." Clara Adams is Black. The decision was upheld. "It's a very unfortunate event," Alan Green told the Monterey Herald. "We are all heartbroken. Clara ran an incredible 400 race and is the fastest 400-meter girl in the state. "She was trying to have some fun at the finish line after the 400. It was interpreted as unsportsmanlike. What an incredible season and run. It's unfortunate." Clara Adams said afterward she felt like she was "robbed" and was "in shock." Fox News Digital reached out to the CIF for comment. Adams finished in first place in the 400-meter dash at the Central Coast Section Championships and finished first in three races at the Pacific Coast Athletic League Masters Meet last month. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
