Confusion leaves Selby out of pool
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com
Despite qualifying for the state swimming championships in three events at last Thursday’s last chance meet, Harding Prep’s Mitchell Selby will not be allowed to participate this weekend.
Paperwork needed to be filed to the Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association by Friday afternoon, and Harding Prep did not get the forms in on time.
“We didn’t even know he was swimming,” Harding Prep athletic director Emily White said. “It’s unfortunate that this has happened. He’ll definitely be around next year.”
Selby’s parents asked Edmond coach Steve Riggs if Mitchell could compete a few weeks ago. Mitchell was allowed to and easily qualified for the events.
Riggs said he noticed something was wrong when he was organizing the warm up time for each school to use the pool and Harding Prep was not on the list.
“It’s a shame because it was such a unique story, but we know he’ll be back and better than ever,” Riggs said.
No one is at fault here, but it’s a real shame for Selby. As a kid, he’s not thinking about the rules and regulations. He just wants to swim.
For swimming coaches, they just want to give kids the opportunity, a chance. No one wants to turn away someone who wants it so bad.
And for the OSSAA, well, they’re always the bad guys in these situations. They have to enforce the rules. They’re just following procedure. It’s tough to be the governing body because you never want to open that proverbial Pandora’s Box.
The good thing is Selby is just a freshman. He swims at Chesapeake, so you know he’s swimming with the some of the best in the state. So to reiterate, yep, Selby will be back. We just won’t see him this weekend.
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