Posted on 05/18/2026 10:20:45 AM PDT by dennisw
A North Carolina high school was left heartbroken after a brutal judging decision cost their athletes a state championship.
Mallard Creek won the boys' 4x400m relay to secure the title, only for Nyan Brown - who ran the anchor leg - to be disqualified for celebrating too early.
During the meet in Greensboro, Brown cruised down the home straight well clear of his rivals. Just a few meters from the line, he held up five fingers.
It signaled his team's fifth championship but that title was quickly ripped away from Brown and Mallard Creek after an official punished him for unsportsmanlike conduct.
That left Mallard Creek two points behind rivals Jordan High. Victory in the 4x400m - the final event of the meet - would have secured Brown and Co 10 points.
Instead, they ended up with zero. Mallard Creek reportedly launched a protest at the event, only for the call to be upheld.
'Nyan is devastated,' Bryant Bailey, the Mallard Creek athletic director, told the Charlotte Observer.
'He’s very upset, as are we. With the state championship on the line, they decided to make that call and DQ him.
'And if you go back and look at other photos and videos throughout the week, you can see multiple instances of kids celebrating way, way harder while coming across the line than what I think our young man did.
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I don’t see anything excessive or unsportsmanlike about that.
But if he had his hands full like during practice...this wouldnt happen.
Too cool for school.
Racist White judge no doubt
He was warned; he did it anyway. Classic FAFO.
“Not sure I see how this hand gesture would be disqualifying”
“an official punished him for unsportsmanlike conduct.”
That’s so ambiguous it could be made to mean anything a judge wanted it to.
Good. We need to take every opportunity to emphasize the REQUIREMENT to practice good, respectful decorum in public society. That lesson has pretty much been lost across one particular subculture.
We can do better and we must demand that it be so.
I hope it gets overturned. This is BS.
Pansified PC culture has ruined sports. If this is the trend then I expect the NFL and NBA to cease all endzone shenanigans and in your face dunks.
Sue them.
Imagine if he had smiled, too. Jail time.
The judge went too far. There was no taunting or other form of nastiness.
The professional sports leagues absolutely should stop the celebratory antics. That BS is what teaches this behavior.
I guess he would have been ok to just hold up his middle finger,,,,,,no celebration there.
I expect the NFL and NBA
No Fun League
This was not taunting, it was an acknowledgement of their fifth championship.
Normally I would agree with the whole “Act like you’ve been there before” thing and all, but this was not taunting by any stretch.
That does seem excessive, and possibly biased. That poor kid burdened with guilt for a harmless gesture.
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