That scenario seemed to play out perfectly for Derek Herber and the North Attleboro spring track team. In the final event of the D2 State Championship, North Attleboro did just enough in the 4x400 relay to edge Central Catholic by one point.
It was almost a storybook ending for Herber, but during school the following week, something wasn't adding up. After calculating the results, Herber discovered something wasn't right.
In today's society, there are plenty of people that would have been content to say, 'Oh well' and carry on with life as if nothing happened.
But not for Herber, who consulted with assistant coaches to double check his math and then North AD Kurt Kummer. Once they figured out what happened, they contacted the MIAA without hesitation, completely ready to forfeit the state title, which in the end, they hadn't earned.
Andrew MacDougall covered how everything unfolded for The Boston Globe:
He is a teacher of history, not math, but something wasn’t adding up for Derek Herber.
On Sunday afternoon, Herber coached the North Attleboro boys’ track and field team to what he thought was a second consecutive Division 2 outdoor championship, in what he had declared to be his final season as coach.
The win was clinched in the meet’s final event, the 4 x 400 relay, in which his Rocketeers earned 1 point to edge Central Catholic, 69-68.
But when Herber entered the results into his record book Monday morning, the scores added to a total that fell short of 69. He knew something was off.
“For our individual scoring, I try to keep up with it and try to keep the kids [aware of] where they are individually for scoring,” Herber said. “We were looking at it, and I did all the math, and I said, ‘Aww.’ ”
After crunching the numbers several more times with his assistant coach and never reaching 69, Herber picked up the phone and called the MIAA to alert officials of a potential mistake.
According to Herber, the error was a clerical one, made as the finish-line crew worked to decipher a muddled photo finish in the finals of the 110-meter hurdles. North Attleboro junior Nathan Adeyemi finished seventh, but in the results, he was awarded the point total (8) for a second-place finish. Meanwhile, Salem senior Jerry Canada finished second and was awarded the point total (2) for a seventh-place finish.
When the final team scores were adjusted to account for the revised results, North Attleboro was no longer champion. The 6-point loss knocked the Rocketeers down to 63 points, placing them third behind Central Catholic and Woburn (65).
Once the mistake was confirmed, Herber reached out to Central Catholic to apologize for the mixup and told the Raiders they would soon be receiving the trophy that was rightfully theirs.
The corrected results came at the expense of Herber’s seniors, a group of which he said years ago that if he were to ever step away from coaching, he’d want to end it with the Class of 2014.
But title or no title, Herber said, it doesn’t take away from what his Rocketeers accomplished this season.
“I feel bad for my seniors,” Herber said. “I think they truly had an opportunity to win, but I think they also understand they wanted to do it in the right way. The right team won. [Central Catholic] had the most points.
Boston Globe columnist Chris Gasper had high praise for Herber:
Thank you, Derek Herber, for reminding us you don’t have to win to be a winner, for reaffirming our faith in the idea that sports can be about more than the final score or first place.
Herber and the North Attleboro boys’ track and field team he coaches are champions, even if the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association record book will say differently now. It will say North Attleboro finished third after Herber self-reported a scoring error that cost his athletes a state title but made them paragons of athletic probity.
The North Attleboro team ostensibly repeated as Division 2 champions on Sunday, earning a narrow 69-68 victory over Central Catholic. The meet had come down to a single point North Attleboro earned with an eighth-place finish in the final event, the 4 x 400 relay. They got their trophy, rode home from New Bedford, and went to sleep secure in their accomplishment.
But on Monday, Herber was in his classroom at North Attleboro High, where he teaches history, and decided to pop online and look at the official results of the track meet, which were not available until 11:30 a.m. that day. He was on his lunch break and wanted to work on a speech for the team’s end-of-season awards banquet. He was tabulating points for his salute to the team’s MVP. But something wasn’t adding up.
Herber realized that junior Nathan Adeyemi, who had finished seventh in the 110-meter hurdles, had been credited with the 8 points given for a second-place finish, not the 2 he should have received for finishing seventh. The error had taken place during the meet, when a photo finish at the line resulted in incorrect initial scoring. The results had been updated to reflect the accurate order of finish, but North Attleboro had retained the incorrect points.
Herber called his athletic director, and they alerted the MIAA to the error. North Attleboro hadn’t won the state championship. Central Catholic had. Herber’s Red Rocketeers actually finished third, behind Woburn.
It’s refreshing that in an era when sports have taken on an outsized importance in our society, when passion and obsession are not easily separated, when the line between dedication and derogation is blurred, when youth sports have travel teams, elite teams, and cutthroat caste systems that there is still room for sportsmanship and perspective.
#6: True Teammates
#7: Six Players Join The Club
#8: A Shot Worth The Wait
#9: Repeat Sectional Champs
#10: The Rivalry Rematch
#11: Vaulting To The Top
#12: Triple Overtime Thriller
#13: The Brick Wall
#14: Making A Big Splash
#15: The Buzzer Beater
Honorable Mention: The Finalists
2012-2013: The Complete Countdown