Use of girl player costs Cal boys tennis
It took nine matches for California High School’s boys tennis team to position itself for a section title, but in a matter of days that achievement was wiped away by a technicality.
After the WPIAL ruled last Tuesday the Trojans must forfeit its first four section matches for using an ineligible athlete, California appealed and the WPIAL upheld the ruling Thursday – ending the team’s hopes of a Section 1-AA title. School officials appealed to the PIAA, but they were informed Friday the decision was upheld.
“I’m disappointed in the PIAA’s decision,” California athletic director Chris Minerd said. “I thought we presented a case that could not be disputed, but the rules are the rules. We respect the WPIAL’s and PIAA’s decision.”
California was 9-0 in the section and 11-0 overall, but the ruling cost the program its first outright section title in almost 50 years. The team did qualify for the Class AA playoffs.
The decision stemmed from an opponent reporting to the WPIAL that Cal used a female athlete.
Under PIAA rules, if a school offers a sport for both genders, neither team can use a combination of boys and girls on one team. California has a girls tennis team during the fall season.
“It’s been chaotic because we had to find a replacement for the girl and it hurt us,” senior Mario Tiberie said. “It’s evident that we pulled it together. Even after we found out about it, we’ve won every match and we pulled together.”
After receiving word from the WPIAL earlier this month the female player was ineligible, California told WPIAL officials she was used because the team was one player short of filling its matches and argued the rules were not spelled out correctly in the PIAA bylaws, but neither argument was successful.
Head coach Martha Hall declined to comment.
“It was devastating. The most difficult part is that we are a group of hard-working student-athletes who did nothing wrong,” Tiberie said. “We didn’t know about the rule and our coaches didn’t know about the rule. We’re being punished for something we shouldn’t be punished for. We’ve won every match fair and square. Having a section title taken away from us hurts so much.”