By Bob McPhee,Staff Writer

RUMFORD – A scoring error has prompted Mountain Valley High School to appeal the results of the 2005 Class B state wrestling meet.

The final results had Mountain Valley finishing second with 164.50 points, two points behind Camden Hills. An error awarded Camden Hills two additional points.

The appeal is scheduled to be heard March 3 before the Maine Principals’ Association management committee in Augusta. If the appeal is successful, Mountain Valley and Camden Hills would be co-champions.

“The kid’s deserve it,” Mountain Valley Principal Bruce Lindberg said. “They earned the right to be named co-champions. The results should be based on what happened on the mat, so the kids shouldn’t be penalized because of a computer error.”

The wrestling committee recognized that a scoring mistake was made, but it didn’t feel it had the authority to change the scoring totals. According to the high school federation rule book, an appeal must be made 30 minutes following the completion of the state meet.

The next step in the process was the appeal to the MPA.

Mountain Valley coach Gary Dolloff recalculated the scoring after the meet and discovered the error. He then contacted the committee by 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

“The final results were so close, so when I got home I looked into it,” Dolloff said. “I added up the scores of both teams and realized things were not right. So, I rechecked the match results of every wrestler several times. The wrestling committee was notified as soon as possible later that morning.”

The error occurred when Camden Hills’ 103-pound wrestler Murphy McGowen received advancement points. The freshman received a bye in the quarterfinals and was not eligible to earn advancement points until he won his next match. McGowen won a semifinal match and eventually won a state championship with an 8-5 decision against Jim Spencer of Belfast.

Lindberg contends that keeping a running score for all teams at an eight-mat tournament would be impossible to do. That is why the MPA hires a scorekeeper and a meet director to insure issues like this don’t happen. It’s routine for each team to keep its running score throughout a tournament.

“I have polled every Class B coach,” Lindberg said. “They each keep a running tally of their own scores. But, they agree that maintaining other team scores would not be possible.”

Lindberg has contacted Camden Hills principal Jim Anastasio, who also agreed a scoring error had been made. Anastasio will write a letter to the MPA in support of naming co-champions.

The teams were tied entering the finals, but the Windjammers won four individual state championships to take an 18-point lead. Each win in the final is worth four-team points, and True Bragg (119) earned 2 additional team points for a pin.

The Falcons countered with pins by Chris Smith (189) and Brendan Bradley (215). David Smith also won a 5-0 decision at 275.

Camden Hills has won the past six Class B state championships, while Mountain Valley has placed second five times.

“I really feel good about our chances of being named co-champions,” Lindberg said.