CV has to forfeit basketball wins

An administrative error regarding eligibility of a transfer student has resulted in the forfeiture of the entire Central Valley 2004-05 boys basketball schedule.

District 8 Board of Control principals made what board president Erik Ohlund called the gut-wrenching decision at their monthly meeting on Thursday.

He said the board had no alternative based on Washington Interscholastic Activities rules for interscholastic sports eligibility.

“There were knots in the stomach of most of the principals there,” said Ohlund, who is principal at Ferris. “They expressed that in more than one way because of the severity of the penalty. (The WIAA rules) provide us no option.

Luke Clift, was mistakenly deemed eligible when he chose to enroll at CV following eighth grade at East Valley Middle School. Central Valley activities coordinator Butch Walter said he misinterpreted WIAA Rule 18 regarding varsity eligibility as it applies to choice students. No one questioned it last year.

Clift played in all 21 of Central Valley’s games last year and averaged nearly seven points per game for a team that went 13-8 and lost in the first round of District 8 tournament.

Under the WIAA transfer rule, students are eligible for varsity following an “immediate and bona fide change of residence into a school district,” or following a year’s enrollment at that school if they do not move.

There are exceptions for hardship and in many instances, students move between high schools within a school district and are immediately varsity eligible. Clift, by rule, would have been eligible only if EV’s ninth grade was still in the junior high, or if he had come from a private middle school/junior high to a public high school.

Central Valley basketball coach Rick Sloan was upset by Thursday’s decision.

“I’m all for a rule as long as it is fair and consistent,” he said. “Schools that self-report after discovering their error are the ones who end up being unduly penalized.”