Three high school track-and-field athletes originally barred from their section playoff meet are now allowed to compete in Friday's section meet in Forest Lake.
And everyone is overjoyed with the decision by the Minnesota State High School League, which canceled out the original ruling that followed league policy that anyone not on the entry list could not participate in an event.
"There were tears, there was laughter, everyone was dancing around the living room," Sherry Wiltrout told Vineeta Sawkar on the WCCO Morning News after they found out about the reversal that came after the original ruling was appealed.
Her daughter, Evelyn, competes in the shot put for Cambridge-Isanti High School, along with Erin Baker, and A'Nyjah Presswood.
They were preparing for the Section 7 meet, a competition that would determine the section's participants in the state meet, when it was discovered that their all of their names were not on the entry list.
It was a mistake of omission by the girls' coach, according to Sherry.
"Oh, he felt horrible," she said. "In hindsight we realized it was a tiny, human error where he forgot to click a box, and didn't do the double-check that he should have done."
She did have a problem with how the high school league acted.
"They chose not to let these girls participate," she said, noting that the girls' coach and other athletic administrators backed them up during the appeals process.
The MSHSL reversed its original ruling, citing unique circumstances and that the athletes' participation won't impact the meet's competitive integrity.
The high school league announced its decision through e-mail on Thursday.