A Charlotte high school track and field team was disqualified from the final race of the state championships due to an athlete's hand gesture as he crossed the finish line, costing his team a third straight state championship.

And the association that governs high school athletics in the state said Monday that it won't intervene.

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"Once I saw the official threw the flag up, I couldn't believe it, I was in disbelief," Mallard Creek head coach Samuel Willoughby told WSOC in Charlotte on Monday.

HighSchoolOT recorded the moment Nyan Brown crossed the finish line to win the 4x400 relay for the Mallard Creek High School Mavericks. In the video, Brown can be seen holding his hand up in celebration right before crossing the line. Without the points from the final relay, Mallard Creek finished second in the meet won by Durham's Jordan High School.

"Judgment decisions made by meet officials are done with the full knowledge of NFHS Track & Field Rules as well as rules and expectations of the NCHSAA relative to unsporting behavior and actions," North Carolina High School Athletic Association commissioner Que Tucker said in a statement Sunday night. "We recognize there is deep disappointment experienced by the student-athletes, coaches, and the school community involved.”

“While I am disappointed in the final decision, I believe this moment creates an opportunity for a larger conversation within track and field about allowing young athletes to celebrate major accomplishments," Brown said in a statement on social media.

"The moment's gone, the celebration is gone, you can't get that back," Willoughby said.

Mallard Creek principal Dr. Jared Thompson filed a written appeal and grievance on Monday to the NCHSAA Board of Directors and Tucker. The NCHSAA received the letter, but it didn't change its decision.

"The NCHSAA considers the ruling of the official to be the final decision," it told HighSchoolOT on Monday.

Officials at the event said Mallard Creek had received a warning after Brown flexed toward photographers after winning the 300-meter hurdles earlier in the day. Brown's hand gesture was the team's second violation and resulted in the disqualification, costing the team what would have been their third straight track title.

Willoughby and Mallard Creek athletics director Bryant Bailey contest that initial warning.

"For her to say that that was a warning, it's mind-blowing," Willoughby said.

"The issue is the inconsistency of what you're stating was the actual rules, there's a huge gray area there," Bailey said.

Among the rules for the state meet, which was held May 13 to May 16 at the Marcus T. Johnson Track on the campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro:

  • All coaches and athletes are expected to show GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP. Competitors who engage in taunting, profanity, baton throwing, and/or refusal to follow the instructions of the meet officials will be disqualified from the event or possibly the meet.
    • The use of profanity, taunting, “showboating” will not be tolerated and will result in disqualification per NCHSAA.

      Since the video was shared by HSOT, it has garnered the attention of national news outlets, including The Athletic and Yahoo Sports.

      Brown's hand gesture is one used widely by athletes. Meet guidelines ban track athletes from celebrating during the race. Brown made the gesture during the final seconds of the race.

      HighSchoolOT has reached out to Jordan High and school officials aren't commenting at this time.

      The disqualification has attracted national attention with many weighing in via social media. Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, a former track athletes, said the gesture wasn't "taunting or unsportsmanlike."

      "A High School was ROBBED of a State Championship," he wrote.