Connecticut High School Runner Disqualified From Second Place at State Open Over Heart Rate Monitor

Quentin Koch crossed the finish line second at Connecticut’s high school cross country State Open on Nov. 5, then lost the place over a heart rate monitor. Connecticut bans the devices outright in its championship races, while the national rules that govern the New England Championships, where he races next, allow them.

Koch, a junior at Xavier, was disqualified at Wickham Park in Manchester after an official reported the device to the tournament director. His coach appealed, and a jury of appeals made up of cross country coaches turned it down, CT Insider reported. Xavier won the boys team title regardless, scoring 83 points to Greenwich’s 88 for its first State Open crown since 2018. Koch ran his first two high school seasons for Greenwich before he transferred.

One Line in the Rules

The rule appears on page six of the CIAC’s boys cross country rules packet, set in capital letters: “ANY RUNNER WHO USES AN ILLEGAL AID OTHER THAN A WATCH, SUCH AS A HEART RATE MONITOR, SHALL BE DISQUALIFIED.” It is the only line in the packet about devices of any kind, and it never says what counts as an illegal aid. For scoring, uniforms and protests, the same packet defers to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS).

The NFHS put its own position in writing in 2019. Its track and field and cross country rules “do not prohibit the use of wearable technologies,” according to that year’s points of emphasis, and the restriction they set is on a runner receiving electronically transmitted data from a coach or anyone else during a race. Watches, garments and shoes are all listed as permitted.

A watch is fine under the Connecticut rule, and many GPS running watches from Garmin, Polar and Suunto now read heart rate from an optical sensor on the wrist, so a runner wearing one is collecting much the same data a chest strap or arm band would. The packet does not say whether a watch with that function is still just a watch. Runners use that data to train by heart rate zones or keep their easy days under a low heart rate cap.

Xavier coach Chris Stonier told CT Insider that Koch’s monitor sends its data to a phone app that can only be opened once the race is over, that Koch had worn it all season, including at the Class MM championship on Oct. 31, and that close to half the field had something similar on. “The rule, the disqualification process at the CIAC level says you are guilty until proven innocent,” he said.

The CIAC stood by the call in a statement the following day, CT Insider reported. “The rule is not new. It is highlighted in bold in the boys cross country rules packet. It is a coach’s responsibility to ensure all runners know, understand, and comply with the rules,” the association said. Bill Baron, the State Open’s director, told the outlet that the jury decided mainly on the CIAC rule and that the committee looks at new technology at its meetings before and after every season.

Tycen LaBelle Takes the Individual Title

Griswold senior Tycen LaBelle, runner-up to East Lyme’s Sam Leone a year ago, went through the first mile in 4:48.7 and won in 15:37.6, 24.6 seconds ahead of the runner who was eventually placed second. That was Stratford’s Zackary O’Toole, moved up to second in 16:02.2 once Koch was taken out of the results, and he finished only six tenths of a second clear of East Lyme’s Nico Cardello. Holden Hines placed fourth in 16:11.6 and became Xavier’s top scorer.

“We know who really got second. That’s all I’ll say,” Hines told CT Insider.

The top six teams and top 25 individuals from the State Open qualified for the New England Championships at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast, Maine, on Nov. 14. That meet runs under NFHS rules, so Koch is free to run with his Xavier teammates there, and to race in the monitor that cost him second place in Manchester.