Ohio 2016

[inwhite]

Um, I was under the assumption that Centerville was disqualified from EV... for, ya know, cheating? Can somebody please explain their 2nd place?

I'm legit confused.

I was also under the assumption that they were videotaped cheating by 2-3 other teams. I'm fairly certain they got something close to 41 points for that.

Maybe I heard wrong?

[inwhite]

Edit: Yes, I did see the 5 point penalty. But, for full out proven cheating? Are seriously being THIS lenient?

Something's rotten in Denmark.

[PianoDoc]

[Deleted]

[spongeb0b]

Calling the act of practicing on the competition floor prior to competition day as cheating is going too far, IMHO. One of the goals of a competitor is to gain as much advantage over your opponents as much as possible. The unfairness is the part that is up to interpretation here. Certainly other teams could have taken advantage of practicing on site the day before competition. As far as I am aware, there is no written rule against this.

[PianoDoc]

[Deleted]

[notourdivision]

Calling the act of practicing on the competition floor prior to competition day as cheating is going too far. Further as far as I am aware, there is no written rule against this.

Even if it's not cheating, it's extremely against the spirit of the competition (which IS a rule.)

"Teams are expected to make an honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of the problem (not interpret the rules so they have an unfair advantage)."

Centerville interpreted the rules so that they had a VERY clear advantage. Rule broken. Straight from soinc.org.

[Flea]

Calling the act of practicing on the competition floor prior to competition day as cheating is going too far. Further as far as I am aware, there is no written rule against this.

How is practicing prior to competition not cheating? They are gaining an unfair advantage. Here is exactly what the E. V. rules says:

Section 4f: Teams may use their own measuring devices to verify the track dimensions during their 8 minutes. They may not roll the vehicle on or adjacent to the track surface between the starting and target lines at any time prior to or during the competition.

They weren't running between the starting and stopping lines, but they were running it on the track prior to competition which is against the rules and cheating.

[notourdivision]

Calling the act of practicing on the competition floor prior to competition day as cheating is going too far. Further as far as I am aware, there is no written rule against this.

How is practicing prior to competition not cheating? They are gaining an unfair advantage. Here is exactly what the E. V. rules says:

Section 4f: Teams may use their own measuring devices to verify the track dimensions during their 8 minutes. They may not roll the vehicle on or adjacent to the track surface between the starting and target lines at any time prior to or during the competition.

They weren't running between the starting and stopping lines, but they were running it on the track prior to competition which is against the rules and cheating.

It's pretty much universally accepted that it was against the rules, either by this (https://www.soinc.org/ethics_rules) or by the official EV rules. Even if the Ethics rules states that we give the lowest punishment, they clearly violated the rules, and therefore cheated. The scoring guideline dictates that they should be disqualified. Cheating is cheating, no exceptions for Centerville, Mentor, Solon, Mason, Chardon, or anyone else.

I'm not from Mentor, but they deserved the 2nd place.

[Flea]

One of my issues is that we are about the send a team to Nationals that cheated. Is that what we really want to exemplify in Science Olympiad? Cheating? Dishonesty?

[spongeb0b]

Calling the act of practicing on the competition floor prior to competition day as cheating is going too far. Further as far as I am aware, there is no written rule against this.

How is practicing prior to competition not cheating? They are gaining an unfair advantage. Here is exactly what the E. V. rules says:

Section 4f: Teams may use their own measuring devices to verify the track dimensions during their 8 minutes. They may not roll the vehicle on or adjacent to the track surface between the starting and target lines at any time prior to or during the competition.

They weren't running between the starting and stopping lines, but they were running it on the track prior to competition which is against the rules and cheating.

It's pretty much universally accepted that it was against the rules, either by this (https://www.soinc.org/ethics_rules) or by the official EV rules. Even if the Ethics rules states that we give the lowest punishment, they clearly violated the rules, and therefore cheated. The scoring guideline dictates that they should be disqualified. Cheating is cheating, no exceptions for Centerville, Mentor, Solon, Mason, Chardon, or anyone else.

I'm not from Mentor, but they deserved the 2nd place.

Ethic rules are not always clear cut. Look at glider/wright stuff, it is clearly stated in the state website (http://ohso.osu.edu/state-tournament) that they are allowed to practice in the competition area prior to the event. For scrambler it is clearly stated that it is NOT allowed. However there is nothing about this for EV. The officials should have spelled this out clearly from the beginning.