Chief Sealth Girls –

The Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) made up for the sanctioning mistakes of the Sea-King District, when they decided to strip the Chief Sealth High School girls basketball team of all of their victories during the 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06 basketball season – which includes the forfeiture of two state basketball titles, a third place state basketball tournament finish, Sea-King District titles, and Metro League titles. According to a statement released by the WIAA, the WIAA Executive Board examined the testimony and materials related to the allegations of illegal and inappropriate recruiting at Chief Sealth High School and concluded that significant recruiting did occur, and that the nature of the incidents and multiple occurrences caused them to believe they were intentional and egregious. The WIAA executive board today responded to the state’s largest recruiting scandal with the heftiest penalties in the history of Washington high school athletics. The 10-member board’s vote was unanimous. During a hearing on Monday at the WIAA office, Sea-King District secretary Tom Doyle stated that the District had dropped the ball when they decided last month to strip Sealth of their 2004-05 and 2005-06 district titles because they failed to include the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons in their proposed sanctions. “None of our members had been in a meeting before with the media being present,” said Doyle. “We just dropped the ball.” By a unanimous vote, the WIAA executive board in response to the recruiting violations handed down what is believed to be the harshest penalties ever imposed on a Washington state high school sports program. The only bright spot of the ruling was that the WIAA reversed the decision and recommendation of the Sea-King District by allowing Chief Sealth to participate in the 2007 state basketball tournament. “We’re disappointed that the WIAA upheld the sanctions that District 2 (Sea-King District) imposed in taking the titles away from Sealth,” said Seattle School District spokesperson Patti Spencer. “We continue to believe that it is not appropriate to punish students for adult behavior; However, we do appreciate that the WIAA overturned the District 2 santions referring to the eligibility for future playoff games.” During the spring, the Seattle School District and Chief Sealth High School had an investigation into the alleged recruiting violations and determined that recruiting did occur at Chief Sealth, which is a violation of WIAA rules which doesn’t allow recruiting of any kind. The school and the district proposed to institute self-discipline in the following manner: Two-year probation beginning April 7, 2006; Non-renewal of coaching contracts; Develop and implement an educational program (staff training for eligibility and transfer); Require training for district staff. All of the Metro League Schools, the league that Chief Sealth competed in, agreed with the self-imposed disciplinary actions proposed by the Seattle School District, but the Sea-King District of the WIAA chose to impose a much stiffer penalty by adding the forfeiture of Sealth’s 2005 and 2006 Sea-King District Titles and to deny Sealth’s participation in the 2007 Sea-King District tournament. “We feel the decision made by Sea-King District 2 is harsh and draconian and doesn’t meet the spirit of the infractions that happened,” Boyd said during Monday’s hearing. “We remain hopeful that we’ll be able to come here and get a fair and impartial hearing and a decision that’s rendered on facts, rather than media hype.” According to Doyle, the district based their sanctions on their belief that recruiting occurred, the school used ineligible players, and there was a lack of institutional control at Chief Sealth. In addition, he stated that the recommendation to prohibit Chief Sealth from participating in next year’s tournament was based on the fact that one of the players that was allegedly recruited would still be playing for the team next season. “We looked at the sanctions [imposed by the Metro League] and determined that there weren’t strong enough for recruiting violations and control issues,” said Doyle. At Monday’s hearing, John Cerqui, an attorney for the Seattle School District, laid forth the argument that the WIAA should overturn the sanctions imposed by the Sea-King District because the students in question were recruited and first played for Chief Sealth during the 2002-03 school year, and the 2003-04 school year and that if any sanctions were to be imposed by the WIAA or the district it should be for those two years. Cerqui’s argument was based on a WIAA rule that states If a student transfers to another school and plays sports continuously for one year, he or she is considered eligible, and no punishment should be meted out. According to Cerqui interpretation of the rule, a student would be ruled eligible to participate in athletics after being at the school for one year, thus making all of the students in question eligible for athletics participation during both of Chief Sealth’s championship seasons in 2004-05 and 2005-06. In addition, Cerqui pointed out that unlike other infractions, like the use of drugs, the WIAA handbook contains no specific punishment for recruiting violations. “It’s our opinion that the only year that should be forfeited is the year that they were recruited,” said Cerqui during the hearing. “The two years that the state championships were won all of the girls were eligible.” The upholding of the Sea-King District sanctions come as no surprise to many who attended Monday’s hearing, but the additional sanctions imposed by the WIAA did. “It looks like the WIAA agreed with the argument of the attorney from the [Seattle] school district,” said one observer who has been following the case since it began. “I guess they decided to finish what the District started, and strip the girls of everything that they earned.”