A Random Act of Sportsmanship

At the Horizon League, we spend a great deal of time talking about -- and promoting -- our values.

Of course, if we’re going to talk the talk, we better try to walk the walk.

Hello, Wright State cross country coach Fabien Corbillon.

At the Horizon League Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships hosted by Cleveland State, Corbillon stepped forward to correct a scoring error that resulted in his Wright State’s women’s team dropping from fourth place to fifth in the final standings.

After the race, when the unofficial results were posted for review by the coaches, Corbillon realized that one of his runners had mistakenly worn both her own scoring microchip and that of a teammate, which gave Wright State fourth place ahead of CSU.

“I know that is wrong,” said Corbillon, who immediately brought it to the attention of Horizon League Assistant Commissioner Wayne Burrow.

After a review of videotape, the error was confirmed and the standings shuffled. Cleveland State was moved to fourth place -- its highest finish ever -- while Wright State slipped to fifth.

Perhaps it is a little thing, this slight shuffle of standings in the middle of the pack.

But the larger lesson -- one hopefully noticed by the student-athletes -- was the commitment of a coach to do the right thing, even if came at a cost to his team.

The Horizon League salutes Fabien Corbillon for this random act of sportsmanship.