Teenager who won school cross country race disqualified for helping collapsed rival runner

All Zach Hougland, 17, had to do was walk back to his team's camp after winning the Class 2A boys district race at Columbus, Iowa, on Thursday. The Davis County senior was already across the finishing line and headed back to camp when Mediapolis runner Garrett Hinson collapsed in front of him just before crossing the line. "The kid was going into the finish line and totally collapsed. I was just 150 feet away and saw no one was coming to help him," said Davis County head cross-country coach Josh Husted.

"Zach was walking back to our team camp and saw this was an emergency situation." Hougland could have just ignored it and taken his victory with him back to Bloomfield. Instead, Hougland chose to do the right thing as he was to first person to come to aid of Hinson. As a result, per Iowa High School Athletic Association guidelines, Hougland was disqualified for technically helping a runner finish the race. That, however, was not at the forefront of anyone's mind after watching the heroically unselfish act of the Mustang senior.
"He just wanted to see if he could help the kid. The kid put his arms around Zach to help himself up and finished the race," Husted said. "I got called into the field house and was informed that, since the kid finished the race, Zach was considered to have helped him. Zach knew it might hurt his finish, but he chose to do something heroic instead." Husted admittedly needed some time to process the news himself before informing his team, including Hougland, about the disqualification.

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"I asked Zach if that situation occurred again, if he'd do the same thing. He told me without question he would," Husted said. "Zach's the type of kid that will go back after finishing a workout run and make sure our last guys on the course finish safely. (Hinson) came up to Zach and gave him a hug. He said he would always remember what Zach did for him for the rest of his life," Husted said. "They let him know what he did was heroic."