The Kennedy girls cross country team was the innocent victim of modern technology Saturday at the state meet in Fort Dodge.

The Cougars were summoned to the clubhouse at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course and told they had finished third in the Class 4A standings and would be honored during the awards ceremony, only to be subsequently informed it was a mistake.

The Johnston Dragons actually finished third and the Cougars were fourth. The confusion was blamed on a problem with the electronic timing device.

The Kennedy girls had lined up and were ready to march onto the back porch of the clubhouse, receive their third-place trophy, acknowledge the fans and pose for pictures. When they learned the bad news, they unhappily left the scene.

The Cougars had already held their own celebration, only to find out it was premature.

"We were called to the awards stand as the third-place team, (and) at the last minute I was pulled aside by an official and told we finished fourth," Kennedy Coach Mark Jensen told the Des Moines Register in an article published Tuesday. "One minute, we are celebrating accomplishing our final goal of the season, the next we are walking away with no team award.

"It is an unfortunate situation that should not have happened, and should have been handled differently."

This was the second straight year that there was a timing problem at the state meet, and the Kennedy girls were not the only victim Saturday.

Jason Thomas of West Des Moines Dowling won the boys Class 4A race Saturday and originally credited with a record time, only to have it erased and revised from 14:51 to 15:02.

In the girls' race, Johnston senior Bailey Eppard was originally listed with a time of 4 hours for the 4-kilometer race. A review determined that Eppard had finished in 14 minutes and 32 seconds, good enough to lift Johnston ahead of Kennedy for third place.

Dave Anderson, an official with the Iowa High School Athletic Association, said there was a problem with the computer chips that were used to time the runners. The chips are imbedded in each runner's bib that are worn during the race.

"Not all of the chips were reading properly, and after a coach approached us believing a runner was not properly placed, we went to the backup systems," Anderson said.

Last year, nine seconds were added to the posted times for the top finishers in the Class 4A boys race, although that did not change the order of finish.

The timing and scoring service the past two years was provided by Accu-Split, a company based in Bettendorf, according to the Register.