Chip-timing confusion cleared up

And this time, runners will know to put their best foot forward if they want to avoid the confusion and heartbreak of last year.

A recap: In a photo finish between Service's Jenette Northey and Kodiak's Jaymi Bethea, finish-line judges ruled that Northey was first and Bethea was second, a decision that photos of the finish seem to support. Northey conducted interviews thinking she had won the race while Bethea said how happy she was to come as close as she did.

Several minutes later, word started to spread that Bethea was the winner, not Northey. For the first time, race officials had used a timing system that relies on computer chips attached to shoes to record times, and the computer said Bethea was the state champion.

Both runners recorded the same time on the 5-kilometer course, but Bethea was crowned champion because one of her shoes touched a mat placed across the finish line before one of Northey's did -- even though in more than a century of running, times have been measured based on when the torso, not the foot, crosses the finish line. That's why you see so many finish-line photos of runners leaning across finish lines, pushing their chests into the tape.

Northey, a junior this year, said she sometimes thinks about what might have been -- if a more traditional timing system had been used last year, if she had known to lunge instead of lean -- but she said she doesn't dwell on it.

"It's life," she said. "It happens."

In the months since that race, the National Federation of High Schools clarified its rules to address the growing use of chip timing at cross-country meets. When chip timing is used and the chips are on shoes, the rule says now, placement is determined by a runner's foot, not her torso.

So don't be surprised today to see the elegant lean of a runner at the finish line replaced by the awkward motion of a foot jutting out.

And don't be surprised to see a runner or two take a tumble at the finish, because while leaning is a natural movement for a runner, lunging is not. Brady Sanders of Chugiak learned that last week at the Cook Inlet Conference championships at Kincaid Park, the first race of the season using chip timing.

"I just put my foot forward, which kinda caused me to fall," the sophomore said. "I just wanted to get my foot in front of his."

He had the right idea, but it didn't work out as planned. His duel for ninth place with East High's John Farr ended with Sanders sprawled on the dirt and Farr in ninth place, one second ahead.

Sanders said Chugiak's coaches talked to runners before the race to tell them to think lunge, not lean, if they were involved in a close race. Safe to say all of the coaches had similar conversations with their runners last week at Kincaid.

"We reiterated it's the chip that's got to get across first," Service coach Danielle Dalton said. "It's a tough lesson to learn. It's so natural for everybody to lean."

One thing helping runners learn to lead with their foot is that many cross-country runners are also cross-country skiers. In nordic skiing, it's the ski tip that determines placements, so skiers in close races are accustomed to lunging at the finish.

"I've never had a lot of close finishes," said West High freshman Lydia Blanchet, who came from behind to beat Northey last week to claim the CIC championship. "But I'm a skier, so my instinct is to lunge."

Max Romey, the CIC champ from Service, said coaches talked about something else before last week's race.

"We were taught to put the chip as far up the foot as you can," he said.

The chip attaches to the laces, so savvy runners attach it to the lace closest to the toe and not where the shoelaces are tied. There's a difference of two to four inches between the two spots, depending on the shoe size, and those inches could make all the difference in a close race.

Another thing coaches are certain to tell their runners today is to secure the computer chips to their shoelaces as tightly as possible. At last year's state championships, the runner who placed third behind Bethea and Northey -- West Valley's Molly Callahan -- learned at the awards ceremony that she had been disqualified because both of her chips came loose and fell off during the race.

Reach Beth Bragg at bbragg@adn.com or 257-4335.