Never have I ever heard of a race like this: The Cameron Jones story

What happened in this years state qualifier in the boys 800 is like nothing I have heard of.
Basic story is race had big pile up early on and our freshman sensation Cameron Jones ended up a distant 6th.

Original Results
State qualifying three
  1 Sproul, Leighton    12 Berkeley (Nc)          1:57.93                  
   1:00.164 (1:00.164)       1:57.921 (57.758)                                    
  2 Cuevas Gomez, Adri  12 Granada (Nc)           1:58.55               
       59.605 (59.605)       1:58.546 (58.942)                                    
  3 DeCoite, Brennan    11 Foothill (Nc)          1:58.66                
       59.922 (59.922)       1:58.651 (58.729)       

 Non-qualifiers                            
  4 Baxter, Andrew      12 Las Lomas (Nc)         1:58.71                    
       59.081 (59.081)       1:58.710 (59.629)                                    
  5 Kuglen, Matthew     12 Urban-SF (Nc)          1:59.72                      
   1:00.010 (1:00.010)       1:59.712 (59.702)                                    
  6 Jones, Cameron       9 Maria Carrillo (Nc)    2:01.34                    
   1:00.531 (1:00.531)     2:01.335 (1:00.805)                                    
  7 Feigenbutz, Louie   12 El Cerrito (Nc)        2:01.53                         
       59.481 (59.481)     2:01.523 (1:02.043)                                    
  8 Boutaleb, Elias     11 Dougherty Valley       2:06.67                         
       59.878 (59.878)     2:06.668 (1:06.791)                                    
  9 Camacho, Jacob      12 Amador Valley (Nc)     2:07.33                         
   1:01.539 (1:01.539)     2:07.321 (1:05.782)                                    
 10 Benard, Elias       12 Foothill (Nc)          2:10.67                         
   1:02.667 (1:02.667)     2:10.661 (1:07.994)                                    
 11 Carter, Nathaniel   12 Alameda (Nc)           2:10.68                         
   1:01.206 (1:01.206)     2:10.672 (1:09.466)                                    
 -- Gardner, Caeden     11 Tamalpais (Nc)              DQ               NFHS 5-9-1
       59.438 (59.438)       1:58.001 (58.564)   

I asked Jones coach Greg Fogg to tell me what exactly happened and got this response.

"Hey Jim, 

Agree and it was weird for me too! 

In the race, within 120m (right after the 100m waterfall break-in) there was a huge amount of congestion which had the entire field of 12 runners bunched up, bumping into each other all the way up to the 200m mark (coming by in a very slow, “tactical” about 28 seconds) which led to a collision at the about 220m mark and Cameron, trying to avoid further contact after jumping over a fallen athlete, was forced out to lane 5, but there were 300m hurdles staged in the outside 4 lanes, which Cameron had to run around and as a result, he ended too far back to make up ground and finished 7th in a dismal 2:01.34 (his PR is 1:55.86).
Note: That was later changed to sixth because a runner ahead of him was disqualified because of interference.

After the race, I protested his finish based on “obstruction” from the collision (where an athlete was DQ’d) and the hurdles in the way) and I didn’t think it was going to be approved, finished my goodbye to Cameron and his family.   However, shortly after that, there was an announcement requesting me to report to the starters tent just as the last event, the 4x400 relay was starting.  

Once I got there, the Meet Officials informed me, my protest was approved and Cameron was entitled to a “re-race”, but it had to happen right after the 4x400s were done.

I called Cameron’s parents who were already driving out of the parking lot and managed to get him back to the starting line, just in time to get his spikes on, with a 5 minute warm-up, then was called to the starting line.  They announced his race and he got a lot of support from the remaining fans still there at Dublin HS, also great support from a few of the Santa Rosa and Analy fellow distance runners that were still there.   I think it was something spectators, athletes and even  Coaches had never experienced before, so there was great energy supporting Cameron during his 2 lap effort!

Cameron executed a great race (first lap in :56) all by himself and finished his solo effort in a 1:57.04, faster than the winner of the Boys 800m race earlier in the day, so he got moved up to 1st place and is advancing to State.

I’ve been Coaching for 20+ years and never had to file a formal protest for any of my XC or Track & Field athletes, but glad I did that for Cameron.  He took perfect advantage of the opportunity yesterday and earned his right to compete at the State Meet next week!   …I’ve coached a lot of 800m athletes over the years and not sure if anyone else I’ve coached in the past could have executed his “re-race” all by themselves, with such control, poise and confidence; it was very impressive AND he’s just a Freshman!"

New Results
State qualifying three
  1 Jones, Cameron       9 Maria Carrillo (Nc)    1:57.04                 
       56.066 (56.066)     1:57.038 (1:00.972) 
  2 Sproul, Leighton    12 Berkeley (Nc)          1:57.93                  
   1:00.164 (1:00.164)       1:57.921 (57.758)                                    
  3 Cuevas Gomez, Adri  12 Granada (Nc)           1:58.55               
       59.605 (59.605)       1:58.546 (58.942)    
                 
 Non-qualifiers                
  4 DeCoite, Brennan    11 Foothill (Nc)          1:58.66                
       59.922 (59.922)       1:58.651 (58.729)          
  5 Baxter, Andrew      12 Las Lomas (Nc)         1:58.71                    
       59.081 (59.081)       1:58.710 (59.629)                                    
  6 Kuglen, Matthew     12 Urban-SF (Nc)          1:59.72                      
   1:00.010 (1:00.010)       1:59.712 (59.702)                                                                    
  7 Feigenbutz, Louie   12 El Cerrito (Nc)        2:01.53                         
       59.481 (59.481)     2:01.523 (1:02.043)                                    
  8 Boutaleb, Elias     11 Dougherty Valley       2:06.67                         
       59.878 (59.878)     2:06.668 (1:06.791)                                    
  9 Camacho, Jacob      12 Amador Valley (Nc)     2:07.33                         
   1:01.539 (1:01.539)     2:07.321 (1:05.782)                                    
 10 Benard, Elias       12 Foothill (Nc)          2:10.67                         
   1:02.667 (1:02.667)     2:10.661 (1:07.994)                                    
 11 Carter, Nathaniel   12 Alameda (Nc)           2:10.68                         
   1:01.206 (1:01.206)     2:10.672 (1:09.466)                                    
 -- Gardner, Caeden     11 Tamalpais (Nc)              DQ               NFHS 5-9-1
       59.438 (59.438)       1:58.001 (58.564)  

My hope is the NCS will be allowed to enter four so the Foothill boy will not miss out on a state berth.

So again I have seen a lot of weird things in my track and field days but this one is a new one to me.