Sports Roundup – WIAA strips Chief Sealth of state titles/Hartmann scores her goal at meet

Published 12:00 pm Saturday, July 29, 2006

Seahawks also lose district titles, must forfeit 92 wins and will serve probation.

After five months of investigations and allegations, the executive board of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association did not take long in its deliberation, handing down the stiffest penalties ever in dealing with the Chief Sealth high school recruiting scandal.

And Penny Gienger feels the WIAA made the right call.

“It’s a great decision,” the Bainbridge girls basketball head coach said. “I’m really glad the WIAA upheld what the Sea-King District did. I think it’s fair, I think it’s the right thing to do and everybody can move on.”

By unanimous vote, the WIAA ruled on Tuesday that head coach Ray Willis and assistants Laura Fuller and Amos Walters did illegally recruit players to their school by promising them starting positions and college scholarships and providing fake leases for several players to prove they lived in the Seattle school district.

They also bought meals for prospective players, provided a car for one player and even gave the parent of a prospective player an assistant coaching position, all violating the rules set down in the WIAA guidelines.

In punishment, the organization declared that Chief Sealth must forfeit their two state titles won last year and this year.

The WIAA also ruled that Chief Sealth forfeit all of their wins starting in the 2002-03 season and going to last season and “the vacating of positions and titles” earned during that period.

Chief Sealth was third in the 2003-04 state tournament and won the Metro League title last year. They were also two-time Sea-King district champions.

The state titles will be left vacant, but it is unknown whether the district and Metro titles will be vacated as well or awarded to the second-place team.

Bainbridge finished second to Chief Sealth in last year’s Metro League tournament final.

Also approved by the WIAA were the penalties set forth by the Seattle School District and the Sea-King District.

The Seattle School District ruled in April that the team would be put on a two-year probation, the contracts of Willis, Fuller and Walters would not be renewed (they are appealing the decision in court) and they would develop an educational program to train staff on eligibility and transfer issues.

The Metro League upheld the decision in May, but did not take any further action, a decision that frustrated Gienger.

“When the Metro League put them on probation, I thought they got off scot-free,” she said. “When Sea-King made their decision, I was excited, but I was also worried the WIAA wouldn’t do anything.”

The Sea-King District 2 board of directors ruled that Sealth would have to forfeit their two district titles and was banned from playing in the 2007 district tournament.

The WIAA upheld the forfeiture of the titles, but did rule that Sealth would be eligible to play in the league, district and state tournaments for the 2006-07 season.

While the decision could impact other schools rumored to be involved in recruiting violations, Gienger wasn’t sure if it would send a message to those involved in illicit activity.

“They (Sealth) were really blatant about it, and they got caught,” she said. “It shows the Ray Willises of the world that you can’t recruit, that you teach (and coach) what you’re dealt with.

“If you want to recruit, go to college.”

Hartmann scores her goal at meet

Abby Hartmann may not have finished first in the Flanders Regatta in Belgium, but Glenn, her father, said she was still happy with her performance.

“She met her goal, which was to finish in the top half of a very competitive fleet,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The 13-year-old placed 32nd out of 67 boats in the optimist dinghy portion of the regatta. She raced 10 times in the five days, except for July 4 when there was no wind.

In those 10 races, Abby placed 28th, 53rd, 2nd, 21st, 21st, 38th, 47th, 33rd and 24th for a total of 214 points.

The scoring allowed for her worst finish to be thrown out.

Abby’s score was good enough to finish 13th among her U.S. teammates and she was second among the girls in the optimist dinghy category.

Thirteen countries were represented at the regatta, including sailors from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.

Glenn said Abby will sail at other events during the summer and possibly attend another international event in the future.