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Tennessee Volunteers’ Camille Spink was disqualified from the 200m freestyle finals at the NCAA Division I women's swimming and diving championships on March 22. Officials stated the reason for the disqualification was a false start, but many fans weren't happy with the decision.
Spink qualified for the top eight on the back of an impressive performance in the prelims. She clocked 1:42.37, putting her merely half a second behind top qualifier Anna Peplowski, and sixth overall.
In the finals, the Tennessee Volunteer was placed in the seventh lane, and split a time of 49.53 in her first leg. From there, she went on to clock a 1:42.91, which would have placed her fifth ahead of Chloe Stepanek. However, officials decreed that Spink had moved before the starting flash went off, thus disqualifying her.
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Had she not been disqualified, Spink's performance would have given the Tennessee Volunteers 14 points for the NCAA Division I women's swimming and diving championships.
Reacting to a video of the race start shared by the Instagram account of SwimSwam magazine, a fan expressed their annoyance at the decision, writing:
“Official should be fined for that.”
Another fan stated that the rule following seemed unnecessary, writing:
“There was a very slight wiggle before the flash, but still a stupid call. Idk why you would feel the need to DW for that even if you *technically* can."
Plenty of other fans seemed to be disgruntled with the officials’ decision to disqualify Camille Spink, writing:
“Spirit of the rule vs letter. Didn't affect the race”
Here is the video of the Camille Spink's start that was shared by SwimSwam:
Where do the Tennessee Volunteers stand in the NCAA championships after Camille Spink's disqualification?
At the time of Camille Spink’s disqualification, the Tennessee Volunteers were ranked sixth at the NCAA Division I women's swimming and diving championships. Spink's 14 points would have been enough to bump them up to fifth place ahead of Louisville who had 118 points at the time.
That said, the Tennessee Volunteers have put up impressive performances across multiple categories, clinching 72 points before the end of the day. With this, the team has moved up into fourth place in the rankings, eight points ahead of former champions Stanford in fifth place, and 82 points behind Florida who is in third.
There is still a day of action remaining at the NCAA Swimming Championships, with six races left. It remains to be seen if the Volunteers can pull off some strong performances to finish on the podium in Athens.
