One of the great lessons sports is supposed to teach is that life isn’t always fair, and there will be obstacles to overcome along the way. On Saturday, with her high school golf career at stake, Tippecanoe Valley’s Victoria Biddle did her community proud. The vast majority of high school careers end in sectional play, and ultimately Biddle is no different. But her time as a Lady Viking golfer wasn’t fully decided by her effort. The tournament was scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. According to Biddle, she arrived at the No. 10 tee box, her first of the day, at 10:58. Her playing partners, Whitko’s Claire Reiff and Lakeland Christian’s Abigail Fishel, were already there. In her written statement to the IHSAA, Biddle said “at 10:58 a.m. I pulled up to the 10th tee box (our starting hole) in my coach's cart and checked my cell phone for the time. The three girls in the group in question were already standing beside the tee box, and while I cannot give you the exact time they arrived, it had to be before me at 10:58 a.m. “At 11 a.m., the starter asked for the three participants to come forward and go over the rules for the day as well as teeing order off of the first tee. “At 11:02, as the starter was finishing up his duties, the tournament official approached the tee box and stated, ‘It is 11:02 a.m. and this group has not teed off yet, so I am assessing a 2-stroke penalty to the members of the group.’ The only person to speak up at this time was the Lakeland Christian player who replied, ‘But we were at the tee by 11:00am.’ That statement was ignored by the official because he assumed his ruling was still correct at the time.” So Biddle, Fishel and Reiff played their rounds knowing they were two shots down. Biddle had 92 shots on the day, which would have put her in a playoff for a spot in the East Noble Regional this Saturday, but with the two-shot penalty, her score was officially a 94. “There were a lot of other coaches, the pro from our home course, my parents, all telling me we were wronged, and trying to keep my spirits up a little bit,” Biddle said Monday. In his statement, Valley head golf coach Darren Parker said “Approximately 7:30 p.m., when it was discovered that the 2-stroke penalty incurred by one of these three players is what kept her out of a playoff to qualify for regionals, and at the urging of other coaches and local golf professionals to go question the ruling one last time, I approached the tournament official and again raised my concern over the ruling. “This time he tried to tell me that the girls did not arrive at the hole until 11:02 a.m., and that is why they received the 2-stroke penalty. However, in his own statement on the tee box, his direct quote at the time of assessing the penalty took place at 11:02 a.m. for failing to tee off yet, and that was after the girls had been at the tee box and gone through the rules for the day with the starter.” Parker went on to say there were at least three other creditable witnesses, none of whom had ties to Valley. “I am still really sorry that it has come to this, but to try to explain this to a senior in her last year, and see the hurt in her eyes has me believing I have to try to say something on her behalf,” Parker concluded. He and athletic director Duane Burkhart filed a formal protest with the IHSAA early Monday morning. Before lunch, Burkhart said he’d heard back from Chris Kaufman, assistant commissioner for golf, and that the protest had been denied. “It’s what we expected. The IHSAA has to back up its officials, and we understand that,” Burkhart said. “Mr. Kaufman was very apologetic, but he has to stand with his official.” If you think about it, why would you want to be an official if the sports’ governing body didn’t have your back? The Vikings AD wanted to make it clear he doesn’t want the official named in the column, and the IHSAA specifically prohibits media from interviewing officials about calls made in competition. Instead, he wanted to brag on Biddle, and justifiably so. The instant-media world we live in is chock full of images of people losing their minds over a call, and of otherwise regular people losing their minds over an officials’ decision. It’s why we’re reminded time and again to let players play, coaches coach, officials officiate and fans cheer. “We’re not looking to run an official through the mud. We just wanted to highlight Victoria as she went through a very difficult situation with the highest level of sportsmanship and dignity,” Burkhart said. Parker added “her resilience and character were fully on display Saturday, and she represented Tippecanoe Valley in outstanding fashion.” Biddle admitted it hasn’t been easy. “It’s been very stressful. I’ve lost sleep over it, going over all the different scenarios in my mind of how I could have played differently so this wouldn’t have been a problem,” she said Monday. “Maybe I could have played this shot differently, or done something else there. It hurts to have come so close and miss out like that.” Sometimes I hear people lament what the world will be like when the current crop of high school students begins running things. I’ve always had great confidence that, like all generations, the winners will rise to the top. Now we have Victoria Biddle, Tippecanoe Valley Class of 2017, as a shining example.
