Daniel Layton was all set to defend his Class 2A title in the 110-meter hurdles Thursday at the WPIAL track and field championships at Slippery Rock University.
It took just one wrong click to change those plans.
Layton, a senior at Waynesburg High School, won’t be allowed to run in the event because of a clerical error, one that the WPIAL chose not to correct.
It all started Wednesday, the entry deadline for the championships. Waynesburg coach Rick Layton, Daniel’s father, went on his phone to submit a form finalizing which events his athletes would be participating. He meant to remove his son from the 300 hurdles, but instead of clicking on that box, he inadvertently selected the one next to the 110 hurdles. By doing so, Daniel, who would have been the heavy favorite in the event, was no longer entered.
“They were side by side. I thought I clicked on the 300, but I must have clicked on the 110s,” Rick Layton said. “It was a clerical mistake. All I did was click on the wrong button.”
Layton said he “freaked out” when he saw the final list of entries Thursday morning. He said he called WPIAL track committee chair Tom Norris to see about getting the error fixed, but Layton said Norris didn’t want to hear it.
So, Layton appealed the decision to the WPIAL, which held a hearing Monday to discuss the case. The WPIAL board denied Layton’s request with a vote of 12-3.
“The bottom line is that the criteria to meet is pretty explicit. The opinion of the board was that it wasn’t met,” said Tim O’Malley, the WPIAL executive director.
Some might argue that the mistake could have been corrected and Daniel Layton added to the race. He ran a school-record time of 14.46 seconds this season, nearly a second faster than the next-fastest time in Class 2A. Layton reached the final at last year’s PIAA championships.
The WPIAL, though, didn’t want to make an exception. O’Malley said errors like these have been made before, and that the WPIAL has always stood its ground when it’s come to abiding by its deadline. “Once you start to use subjective rational to avert meeting a deadline, you in essence don’t have a deadline at all,” he said.
Rick Layton was upset with the WPIAL’s decision.
“I am devastated for my son,” he said. “I am shocked and saddened that adults would punish an athlete who has done everything right for the mistake that I made. If that’s how the WPIAL is going to manage our student-athletes, then I think we should reconsider the organization that we’re working with.”
Daniel Layton added: “I don’t think they should have made an exception, but they should have made a correction. Their argument there is precedent, but I think it’s more of a mistake, a mistake being made over and over and nobody has really fought too hard to correct it.”
Even without the 110 hurdles, Layton could still have a lot of success Thursday. He ran the third-fastest qualifying time in the 300 hurdles and will also compete in the pole vault and 1,600-meter relay. Layton is the No. 1 seed in the pole vault. He was the runner-up last year.
Layton is keeping his fingers crossed that the PIAA will fix the error and allow him to compete in the 110 hurdles.
“I’m really putting my faith in them at this point because that is all I’ve got,” he said.
It was a bittersweet day for Layton, who earlier Monday was one of 20 students to receive a WPIAL scholar-athlete award. Layton is a 4.0 student and ranks No. 1 in his class.
But will he rank No. 1 in the 110 hurdles?
Unless the PIAA comes through for him, the answer will be no.
Brad Everett: beverett@post-gazette.com and Twitter @BREAL412.
First Published: May 13, 2019, 11:48 p.m.