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MITCHELL, S.D. - Kamberlyn Lamer is the top-ranked women鈥檚 heptathlete in the NAIA, but she won鈥檛 be competing for a national championship at the NAIA Track and Field Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.

The Dakota Wesleyan University senior qualified for the national meet during the season, but an email error caused first-year head coach Zach Lurz -- who announced his resignation effective June 30 in April -- to miss last Tuesday鈥檚 four-hour registration window for events such as heptathlon, decathlon and marathon. Individual events received a 48-hour registration period.

鈥淚 just broke down and cried,鈥� Lamer said. 鈥淚 was overwhelmed with being upset and sad and thinking about all the hard work I put in this season. It was just really hard to swallow the idea that I couldn鈥檛 compete.鈥�

DWU adopted a new email spam filter in April and the NAIA registration link was sent to Lurz鈥檚 spam folder, according to DWU President Amy Novak. Employees are given notice by the filter about potential spam four hours after the email arrives and they are responsible for confirming those emails as spam.

Novak also stated Lurz allegedly received a file for registration rules for the national meet on May 6, but he did not confirm or deny that it was spam and after 48 hours the email is no longer available. Lurz waited for the registration link to arrive Tuesday, but at 8 p.m., he realized the link went to his spam folder and the registration window had closed.

When reached Friday, Lurz declined to comment on the situation, saying it was the request of DWU鈥檚 administration. DWU athletic director Jon Hart also directed questions to Novak.

鈥淭his was a tragic situation, in part related to our technology and a new system we put in place,鈥� Novak said. 鈥淔or all practical purposes, we had no idea that this registration was locked up in a spam filter for four hours before it was released. And that four hours, frankly, was critical for the registration process.鈥�

Lurz and DWU immediately filed an appeal with the NAIA and the National Administrative Council of Coaches. Upon reviewing the appeal process, Novak found that the only time an appeal is permitted is due to error by the NAIA.

DWU also appealed on the grounds that the athlete did not have an opportunity to petition an institutional error, but the school was denied.

Novak, who is the Great Plains Athletic Conference representative on the NAIA Council of Presidents, spoke to NAIA president and CEO Jim Carr to air her grievances.

鈥淭his is a senior student-athlete that鈥檚 ranked No. 1 in the country and will not have an opportunity to participate,鈥� Novak said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the national association of small college athletics and touts itself as the place where we value students, (but) didn鈥檛 have the courage to respond to the situation. We are deeply disappointed.鈥�

Lamer will compete in the hurdles, long jump, triple jump and javelin, but she admits that it won鈥檛 be the same, as all of her focus has been dedicated toward the seven-event heptathlon.