In February of last season, at an NCAA Division III Last Chance qualifying meet held on the campus of Washington & Lee University in Lexington City, Virginia, multiple relay false starts went uncalled, some of them by the host team. Despite clear infractions, no disqualifications were dealt.
In a report first published by Swimming World, two teams, Washington & Lee and Mary Washington, appeared to take advantage of the lack of officiating at the meet.
The stream replay of the meet shows blatant missed calls on swimmers diving in early on relay exchanges, with the crowd even reacting audibly to the early takeoffs at different times. Some relays have multiple timestamps as they were swum multiple times.
The following teams’ violations can be seen in the video stream:
- Washington & Lee women’s 200 Free Relay (12:50)
- Washington & Lee men’s 200 Medley Relay (15:25, 1:35:00)
- Mary Washington women’s 200 Medley Relay (18:30, 1:53:20, 2:22:00)
The meet replay can be watched here.
Rule 4-12-5 of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Rule Book, states, “When only side takeoff judges are used, a disqualification will result only if there is a dual confirmation of an infraction of the takeoff rule by two side takeoff judges.” On each occasion when a rules infraction occurred, neither official signaled that a violation had occurred, nor was there any moment afterward when the officials reconvened to discuss.
Here are some screenshots of three uncalled violations.
Washington & Lee’s Women’s 200 Free Relay (2nd to 3rd Legs)
Washington & Lee’s Men’s 200 Medley Relay (Fly to Free Legs)
Mary Washington’s Women’s 200 Medley Relay (Fly to Free Leg)
In that report by Swimming World, sources had indicated that the officials that were present for this meet, also were also related to a staff member of Washington & Lee. The concern was further raised when all three relays that had used the lack of officiating to their advantage qualified for the NCAA Division III National Championship meet.
The National Championship meet had more officials and an automatic timing system for reaction times and relay exchanges, two things that were absent in Lexington.
All three relays also would end up swimming slower at those championships than they did at the last chance meet.
The Washington & Lee men’s 200 medley relay set the Old Dominion Athletic Conference record in 1:28.31 at this Last Chance meet, while the w0men’s 200 free relay also tied their own conference record from 2019 of 1:34.02.
Time Comparisons
| Team (Race) | 2025 NCAA DIII Championships Qualifying Time | Last Chance Time |
NCAA DIII Championships Final Time
|
| Washington & Lee (W 200 Free) | 1:35.10 | 1:34.02 | 1:36.47 |
| Washington & Lee (M 200 Medley) | 1:29.60 | 1:28.31 | 1:30.14 |
| Mary Washington (W 200 Medley) | 1:44.61 | 1:43.88 | 1:45.74 |
SwimSwam has reached out to representatives from both Washington & Lee University and the NCAA for comments regarding these officiating concerns, but has not received responses at the time of publication.
Update
Washington & Lee responded to SwimSwam, focusing on the officiating at the meet and the plan in place for future competitions at Washington & Lee University.
All discussion of the OBVIOUS early take-offs aside, why are the lanes numbered in reverse order in the pool. The lanes should be lane 1 on the far-right side as the swimmer faces the pool.
early takeoffs, not False Start!!! False starts only occur at the start of the race.
This is a disgrace—not only to the athletes involved, but to Washington and Lee University itself. It calls into question the legitimacy of the team’s past accomplishments, both academic and athletic. I am calling for the expulsion of all athletes involved in each relay, as well as the revocation of acceptance for any medical students currently on the roster.
It is extremely ungenerous and a bit rude to assume that the swimmers were purposely cheating. As far as I know, swimmers have never been responsible for telling the officials that their relay should be DQ’d. That is squarely on the official’s shoulders. If a relay wasn’t DQ’d and should have been, that is on the officials. It is not the responsibility of the swimmers to demand that they themselves are DQ’d. Making allegations that athletes were cheating (and not simply trying to get off the block as fast as possible, as always) and demanding expulsion is ridiculous.
Dude, they cheated.
The officials that didn’t call the DQ are also VERY closely related to the W&L coach
One could say that the officials live in the same house close.
What makes this even worse is the officials that didn’t call any of these false starts are very closely related to the W&L coach.
I’ll add my 200 medley relay from Texas 5A championships in 1984 was mistakenly DQ’d when the official called out lane instead of lane next to us. I’ll take the team record (then) and silver medal please.
This article isn’t looking for the results to be changed. It’s looking for a response from the schools and NCAA to this apparent orchestrated cheating scheme involving officials.
FACT:
In 2024, at the Texas 6A State Championships in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas Swim Center, the Southlake Carroll Boy’s 200 medley relay finished in 1:31.4, 3rd place, had a back to breast exchange of +.10 on the RTOP, that was declared a early take-off by two officials (dual confirmation). The NFHS Rule Book “suggested protocol” stated that two relay take-off judges declaring a relay take-off DQ, could only be over-ruled by the RTOP reading, between +0.0 and +.09 on the RTOP.. The Southlake Carroll Head Coach requested a Meet Committee to review the DQ and was refused. The relay disqualification stood and the boys were denied their podium finish. Similar situation happened to some of… Read more »
We need to air all grievances here now. I’d like to draw attention to the 1989 Enchanted Prairie Docks Summer Swim League Championship. My coed relay team (Thunder Ocean Motion Sickness) was relegated to a 7th-place ribbon instead of an elite medal for the top 6 when the referees didn’t catch an early take-off from a relay participant of 2 other teams’ squads. Extremely disappointing. I won’t name any names, Robot Kelp Aquatic Parliament and Buoyant Baboon Brigade. I’m still mad about this. I demand justice for me, Lorie, Greg, and Svetlanna!
As the first alternate at Greenland Futures in the 400m IM D-Final, you know good and well Greg was the third cousin of that official. I saw the false start of the Thunder Ocean Motion Sickness with my own eyes buddy.
Small world, and hats off to you for outtouching me in prelims by 0.08 seconds (that pesky final turn…). That said, I will not allow you to besmirch a good honest man like Greg. I also think you may be confusing our team with the relay from Elite Charybdis & Amphitrite Alliance. They were definitely known for pushing the limits. I heard they were doing a somersault turn on backstroke races at the time.
One of our guys was ranked 20th in the country in the 100 free last year and didn’t get in partially because of this. Idk how much of a difference it would have made if something changed then but the fact these teams got allowed into the meet after having this happen especially since it’s not the first instance of this is a very bad look. Both for the school as well as the sport. Doesnt matter what division it is there needs to be accountability very disappointing this wasn’t brought up as a whole last year.