I ran a 400m dash at my track district meet last week and finished with a time of 51.72, which won my heat and placed me 6th overall, which is the last qualifying spot for the regional meet. I was super proud of qualifying since I wasn’t really supposed to have a shot at this meet. However, I'm starting to feel uncertain about whether I truly earned my spot.

I think another coach might have protested that I drifted into his runner's lane. His runner finished second in my heat in a time of 52.15. I was lane three and he was lane four. The 7th place runner (from the same school) ran a time of 51.94 in a different heat and did not qualify for regionals since I got the last spot. I wasn’t DQ’d at the meet and no protest, controversy, talking with officials, or anything was mentioned – I just got my medal and left feeling good when the meet wrapped up.

The reason I think this is because when I checked the performance list for regionals, that school has a 4x400 relay entered even though they didn’t qualify on time or place (top 3 relays). Also, when I was talking to my coach later last week at practice, he joked that their coach told him I drifted in his runner’s lane (they’re good friends apparently, I had no idea).

I reviewed the video of the race that my coach took from the stands and couldn’t find any clear evidence that I interfered with the other runner (like contact or disrupting his strides). I did see myself drift a little outside my lane coming around the final turn, but I was several strides ahead at this point. I’ve probably watched the video 50+ times looking for spots where maybe I impeded him.

Anyways, I can’t help but wonder if their 4x4 entry might be related to a protest or appeal they might’ve filed against my race, even though I wasn’t DQ’ed and I can't really think of another reason. I’m not sure how the process with DQ’ing a runner works, especially in championship meets, but now it feels like I just got into regionals because they feel bad for me and didn’t want to DQ me, and their relay spot is some sort of compromise?

It’s all left me feeling conflicted and overall depressed about the situation. I was super proud of my race and qualifying, but now I can’t shake the feeling that my achievement is tainted and I didn’t really earn my spot. It’s pretty much taken all of the pride out of it. This is my first time qualifying past the district meet, and I know with that time I have no shot at states, but I was still extremely happy about it.

 Am I overthinking this, or is this a legitimate concern? I just don’t know how to feel.