Swimmers at Acalanes High School in Lafayette have been hit by a wave of disappointment and frustration after they learned that they won't be able to swim in a critical competition this weekend.
In a statement, the North Coast Section CIF commissioner of athletics said, "Acalanes High School did not submit their NCS swim team entries for this weekend's championships before the mandatory deadline...This occurred after a reminder was sent out to all NCS member schools by the Section office that the deadline was mandatory and no exceptions for late entries would be made."
The procedures were agreed to by all member schools.
Acalanes' coach said they received information from the NCS that suggests missing the rigid deadline is in all likelihood a user error instead of purely technological.
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"It's out of our control and out of our reach, and we're being penalized for it," swimmer Cale Hanson said. "It's pretty devastating, especially since we had our freshman season taken away due to COVID. It's pretty bummed to have our senior season taken away due to this, too."
NBC Bay Area's Christie Smith has more in the video report above.
