After a 3200 meter race on Thursday at the Boys State Track meet that stripped George-Little Rock’s Joe Anderson of a state title, he will be given that title back.
According to Joe’s father, Pastor Bryan Anderson,George-Little Rock Athletic Director Tyler Glanzer, and the Iowa High School Athletic Association Joe Anderson is being named co-champion by the State Athletic Association in the 1A 3200 Meter race with Gehlen’s Will Roder.
The IAHSAA reports they are awarding three post-meet medals to boys who placed higher in last Thursday’s complete Class 1A 3,200-meter run than in the official race that was shortened to seven laps due to our bell lap error on the track.
The Athletic Association states they know these awards cannot make up for the frustration these competitors and their supporters felt last week, but hope they can serve as a positive reminder of their accomplishments.
George-Little Rock’s Joe Anderson will receive a first-place gold medal, Nodaway Valley’s Joshua Baudler a runner-up silver, and Dawson Hatch of Sioux Central will receive a medal for eighth place.
The results and team scoring that they ended the meet with will not change, so both GLR’s Anderson and Gehlen’s Will Roder will have gold medals from the event.
IAHSAA Executive Director Alan Beste talked with Joe Monday afternoon and said he spoke with the same class he displayed on Friday and Saturday.
The results were originally revised in Thursday’s Class 1A 3,200 -meter run at Drake Stadium to reflect an early and incorrect ringing of the bell lap which created an unfortunate conclusion to the race.
The race’s official original results were based on the runners’ placement after seven laps, when most participants appeared to consider the race over.
After seven laps, Gehlen Catholic’s Will Roder was in first place, with George-Little Rock’s Joe Anderson and Central Decatur’s William Gillis in third.
The bell was incorrectly rung after the race’s sixth lap, as all the runners were competing on the lead lap. Race officials determined through examination of Finish Lynx finish line images that most of the race’s participants stopped at the conclusion of their seventh laps. Those stoppages negatively affected the eighth lap and race officials ruled the race completed after seven laps.
Joe Anderson has gained national recognition with his tweet talking about how being stripped of his title hurt, but that he was more than trophies, he instead runs to bring glory to God.
God’s plan is bigger than mine. pic.twitter.com/HBzeHvyID5
— Joe Anderson (@Janderson9777) May 17, 2019
Anderson was key in George-Little Rock’s 1A State Championship getting on the podium in the 3200, 1600, and 800.
