Recently in CIF rulings Category

After having the appeal of the CIF-Southern Section's ruling which made Miller senior girls basketball players Chloe Wells and Cassandra Mitchell ineligible denied last Thursday, the parents of Chloe Wells is trying to get the ACLU involved as part of a possible lawsuit.

The ruling on Wells - who starred for Miller's CIF championship teams as a freshman and sophomore before moving out to North Carolina for her junior season - and Mitchell was handed down by the CIF-SS offices in November, as they denied the hardship waiver for Wells and Mitchell, who moved with Chloe to Southern California over the summer. After taking it to the CIF-State appeals court, Chloe's mother Nyla is trying the ACLU route.

"It's just a shame what they are doing," Nyla Wells said. "It's not right and we are going to fight it. Cassandra left a bad home situation to come out here and get to play and hopefully, get a scholarship. How they can say she's not a hardship is beyond me."

The Wells have just started the process of getting the ACLU involved, as they have presented their case to the organization's lawyers. From there, the ACLU will decide whether they want to take on the case, a process that takes roughly a week according to Nyla Wells.

"We feel its gotten to the point where the civil rights of Chloe and Cassandra have been violated," Wells said. "Hopefully they'll take on the case and we can proceed with our next move."

The transfer of girls basketball players Chloe Wells and Cassandra Mitchell to Miller from Apex (N.C.) High School was denied by the CIF earlier this week according to Miller athletic director Dwight Berry, leaving the seniors ineligible for varsity play.

"They originally approved the transfer, but someone complained and I guess they decided to re-evaluate their decision," Berry said. "We knew that we would have to file the paperwork with CIF and we figured once it was approved, everything was fine. But they found something I guess that made them change their decision."

The blow to the Miller girls basketball program, which was 0-21 last season, is huge, as Wells was a two-time all-CIF and all-Sun first-team player for the Rebels as a freshman and sophomore, leading Miller to consecutive CIF titles before moving to North Carolina last offseason. The 5-foot-7 guard signed with Duke University late last week.

Mitchell, who is living with the Wells family according to Berry, is also no slouch, as she was second behind Wells in scoring for Apex last season.

The next step in the process is for the Wells family to appeal the decision, something that it will most assuredly do. Efforts to reach the Wells family have been unsuccessful to this point.

"It's not over," Berry said. "They can appeal to a panel, to a single arbiter or take it all the way to the state office. It's in the family's hands right now - I can provide them paperwork but that's about it at this point."

This isn't a unique situation for Miller, which went through a similar situation with football player David Dash last offseason. Dash, a senior running back on the Rebels, was originally banned from varsity play for two years after transferring from Fontana High School, but was cleared to play by a court order after appealing the decision.

The 2009-2010 boys and girls playoff divisions were released Tuesday with a few notable changes. One of the most notable dealt with Hesperia, which dropped from Division I-AA to Division II-A in both genders. Redlands East Valley also dropped in both genders, moving down from I-AA to I-A.

Another notable team that moved up was the Colony girls basketball team. After winning the D3-A CIF title two years ago and the D1-A title last year, the Titans will have a chance to win a third title in a third different division, as they've moved up to D1-AA. Summit also made a leap up, moving from D2-A to D1-A.

Other notable girls teams to move up include Fontana (D1-A to D1-AA), Colton and Ontario (D2-AA to D1-A) and Alta Loma (D2-A to D2-AA). Boys teams to move up include Los Osos (D1-A to D1-AA), Colton and Ontario (D2-AA to D1-A), Yucaipa (D2-A to D1-A) and Summit (D2-A to D2-AA).

Of the new schools, Oak Hills was placed in D4-AA in both genders while Citrus Valley was put in D4-A.

The Barstow High School softball team, which had lost to No. 1 seed Calvary Murrieta in the first round of the CIF-SS Division V playoffs Thursday, had its protest upheld by the CIF-SS offices and will advance according to a press release sent out by CIF Friday morning.

The Aztecs' protest was based on Calvary Murrieta taking illegal batting practice on the day of the game. The rule, listed below, was spelled out in the CIF's press release:

"Teams entered in the softball playoffs WILL NOT be permitted to take batting practice on the day of the scheduled contest. Batting practice will be construed as any type of pitching motion with ANY type of ball from in front of the batter (including pitching machines, underhand tossing, overhand throwing or pepper). THE ONLY ACCEPTABLE BATTING WARMUP WILL BE SIDE SOFT TOSS. The player who tosses the ball should be on a knee and to the side of the batter. The ball should be lifted, not pitched, to the batter. THE PENALTY FOR BATTING PRACTICE WITH WIFFLE BALL, SOFTBALL, BASEBALL, ETC. MAY BE FORFEITURE OF GAME."

With the win, which will go down in the books as a 7-0 Barstow victory, the Aztecs will advance to play at Anaheim Western at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The protest of Yucaipa's 15-7 CIF-SS Division II first-round victory over La Crescenta Crescenta Valley Thursday was rejected Friday according to Yucaipa athletic director Mark Anderson.

The protest, filed by Crescenta Valley coach Phil Torres, was filed because Torres claimed that Yucaipa catcher Cody Meservey didn't leave the premises promptly after having been ejected in the top of the second inning. However, according to Anderson, Meservey didn't need to leave the premises at all.

"The rule is different for players than coaches," Anderson said. "If a coach is ejected, he must leave the premises, but a player can stay in the dugout or in the stands as long as he is supervised by an adult, which we did."

After Meservey blew off some steam from the ejection, Anderson escorted Meservey from the baseball field and took him over to the football stadium, where he watched the rest of the game by looking over the bleachers.

"The rule is different because what are you supposed to do if a player is ejected on the road?" Anderson said. "He can't leave the campus, like the rule for coaches states. That's why it's different. I think its unfortunate that the umpires didn't know this rule and this got as far as it did."

Anderson drove to the CIF-SS offices in Los Alamitos to make the case for the No. 2-seeded Thunderbirds Friday morning. It didn't take much of an argument though, as the CIF had no inclination to change the result of the game.

"They said that I really didn't need to go down there because there were no grounds for a reversal," Anderson said. "I just wanted to make sure that we did everything in our power to explain our point of view."

Yucaipa will continue its playoff run with a second-round game against Cypress Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. at Yucaipa High School.

The CIF-Southern Section offices decided Tuesday that San Bernardino athletic director Patrick Mills should be suspended from coaching the Cardinals baseball team after pulling his team off of the field in the bottom of the fifth inning of San Bernardino's game with San Gorgonio on Friday afternoon. The San Bernardino Unified School District will comply with the CIF's suggestion according to CIF Director of Communications Thom Simmons.

Contacted via e-mail, Simmons submitted the below explanation on the CIF's position:

"CIF Southern Section Bluebook Rule 125.2 states very clearly that the expectation of the CIF Southern Section Executive Committee is for a coach that removes his team from a court or field prior to the end of a contest should be relieved from his/her duties for the balance of the season or face potential sanctions from the section. It is our understandiing that San Bernardino High School has done just that. We commend the San Bernardino principal for taking the actions he has to this point and await a final report from him with any possible additional penalties against Mr. Mills."

The last statement suggests that more sanctions against Mills could arise from the incident, where Mills had the San Bernardino baseball team walk off the field down 8-1 in the fifth inning to the Spartans. The Cardinals (3-21 overall, 1-12 San Andreas League) will conclude their season with an interim coach with two games against Cajon, playing at Cajon today and hosting the Cowboys Friday.

The forfeit of the San Bernardino boys basketball team's 94-85 victory at San Gorgonio on Jan. 23 was upheld by a 5-1 vote at a San Andreas League athletic directors meeting according to San Bernardino AD Patrick Mills and San Gorgonio AD Matt Maeda.

The Cardinals forfeited the game to the Spartans after a freshman basketball coach, who had been ejected from a game at another site earlier in the day, sat on the end of the San Bernardino bench for the varsity game. San Gorgonio filed a protest of the game shortly after.

"I was notified in the fourth quarter of the varsity game by our freshman coach," Maeda said. "He told me that the coach had been ejected from the freshman game earlier that day at San Bernardino High and asked if he was allowed to be on the bench. I said absolutely not."

The athletic directors and coaches talked briefly after the game about the coach in question, though they had different interpretations of what should have been done.

"I talked to (San G boys coach) Cedric Wells at the end of the game and he said that he didn't want the forfeiture, but would give it to his players for a vote and let me know," Mills said. "However, Maeda had already sent the paperwork in.

"The coach's oldest daughter plays on the varsity basketball team and he was there for that and asked if he could sit on the end of the bench. He was told it was OK as long as he didn't do any coaching."

Maeda felt that the rule, which is Rule 16.27 according to the CIF rulebook, needed to be enforced, as it was impossible to quantify what affect the ineligible coach did or did not have.

"The rule states that a coach or player that is ejected isn't even allowed to be in the building to watch, much less on the bench," Maeda said. "They stated the rule like that so there is no grey area. You can't just say 'You can stay there as long as you are not really involved' because how do you determined how involved you can be?"

The vote Wednesday was for seeding preferences for the upcoming playoffs rather than the overall record. The playoff brackets will be released Sunday by the CIF offices and San Bernardino didn't want the forfeited loss, or the extra win, under consideration for league seeding purposes.

"It's happened before," Mills said. "(Pacific athletic director) Carmel Brand mentioned that Pacific's 1995 boys basketball team went 10-0 but had to forfeit all of its games due to an ineligible player but we were awarded the top seed out of the league. The league can award its seeds however it wants and that's what we were asking for.

"We didn't use an ineligible player. We didn't have a varsity coach participating illegally. I've never seen a coach make a basket for a team."

Said Maeda: "In my opinion, voting for that would have been a contradiction of why the rule is in place. If you are going to have that rules, you have to enforce the consquences that result from it."

The ruling puts the Cardinals, who have lost their last two games, in a precarious spot. San Bernardino (14-10 overall, 5-4 SAL) is tied with Arroyo Valley (12-11, 5-4) for third place in the league, one game behind second-place San G (12-13, 6-3). One game remains in the regular season, with San Bernardino playing at first-place Cajon, San G hosting fifth-place Pacific and Arroyo Valley playing at winless Colton.

Should things hold up, the Cardinals will be looking at relying on an at-large bid to qualify for the Division II-AA playoffs. Only three teams automatically qualify from the six-team SAL, which will leave the Cardinals on the edge of their seats for the CIF-Southern Section's version of Selection Sunday if the expected results take place.

"I don't know if we'll make it in or not," Mills said. "It depends on how many automatic qualifiers get in from the other leagues. It's going to be a tight one."

Whatever the result may be, San Gorgonio desires to put the incident in the past and focus on the future.

"We didn't want this," Maeda said. "It's as stressful for our school and our administration as it has been for San Bernardino's. We want all of the San Bernardino schools to do well and we want to avoid situations like these.

"Had we known about it before the game, we would have let them know. No athletic directors want to go through this."

The new basketball playoff divisions were released today. Gone are the league-based divisions - where every team in a league is assigned to the same division. Instead, it looks to be a mostly individual, enrollment-based dividing process.

Performance isn't as much of a factor, but was factored in, which explains some differences between the boys and girls divisions. So if this looks funky, that's why. For the constraints of space, I'll just list the teams in the Sun and Bulletin areas.

BOYS
Division I-AA - Arroyo Valley, Chaffey, Colony, Diamond Bar, Etiwanda, Fontana, Hesperia, Miller, Redlands, Redlands East Valley, Silverado, Upland.

Division I-A - Bloomington, Cajon, Chino Hills, Kaiser, Los Osos, Montclair, Rancho Cucamonga, Rialto, Roosevelt, San Gorgonio.

Division II-AA - Alta Loma, Chino, Colton, Ontario, San Bernardino, Serrano, Sultana, Victor Valley

Division II-A - Ayala, Carter, Claremont, Damien, Don Lugo, Eisenhower, Jurupa Valley, Summit, Yucaipa

Division III-AA - Garey, Granite Hills, Norco

Division III-A - Apple Valley, Barstow, Bonita, Diamond Ranch, Pacific, Twentynine Palms

Division IV-AA - Ganesha, Ontario Christian, Pomona, San Dimas, Yucca Valley

Division IV-A - Big Bear, Rim of the World

Division V-AA - Loma Linda Academy, Silver Valley

Division V-A - Aquinas, Arrowhead Christian, Bloomington Christian, Boys Republic, La Verne Lutheran, Upland Christian, Webb

Division VI-AA - Apple Valley Christian, Hesperia Christian, Lucerne Valley, Mesa Grande Academy, Redlands Adventist Academy, Victor Valley Christian

Division VI-A - Grove, Lake Arrowhead Christian, Packinghouse Christian.

GIRLS
Division I-AA - Bloomington, Cajon, Chaffey, Diamond Bar, Etiwanda, Hesperia, Los Osos, Miller, Redlands, Redlands East Valley, Rialto, Silverado, Upland

Division I-A - Arroyo Valley, Ayala, Chino, Chino Hills, Colony, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, San Gorgonio, Yucaipa

Division II-AA - Carter, Colton, Kaiser, Montclair, Ontario, Roosevelt, Serrano, Sultana, Victor Valley

Division II-A - Alta Loma, Claremont, Don Lugo, Eisenhower, Jurupa Valley, Norco, Summit

Division III-AA - Diamond Ranch, Granite Hills, Pacific, San Bernardino

Division III-A - Apple Valley, Barstow, Bonita, Ganesha, Garey

Division IV-AA - San Dimas, St. Lucy's, Yucca Valley

Division IV-A - Big Bear, Pomona, Rim of the World, Twentynine Palms

Division V-AA - Arrowhead Christian, Loma Linda Academy, Ontario Christian, Silver Valley

Division V-A - Aquinas, Pomona Catholic, Webb

Division VI-AA - Apple Valley Christian, Grove, Hesperia Christian, La Verne Lutheran, Lucerne Valley, Redlands Adventist Academy, Upland Christian

Division VI-A - Bloomington Christian, Lake Arrowhead Christian, Packinghouse Christian