Warrior spikers seeded fourth after injunction

Fallbrook High School’s girls volleyball team lost the November 2 match for a share of the Avocado League title, but the Warriors had a more important victory that day.

A court injunction against a decision not to allow the Warriors to participate in the CIF playoffs was granted two days before the November 4 playoff selection and seeding meeting. After being allowed to participate, Fallbrook was seeded fourth in the CIF Division I playoffs.

“They did the right thing,” Fallbrook coach Galen Tomlinson said of the #4 seed. “They seeded us according to our abilities, not our record.”

Seven forfeits due to a player declared ineligible gave Fallbrook a 13-17 regular-season record which translates to 20-10 on the court. None of those forfeits were in Avocado League competition, where the Warriors finished 8-2 and placed second only to Carlsbad.

The Lancers were undefeated in Avocado League play. They had defeated the Warriors in Fallbrook October 17, and the Warriors and Lancers closed out the regular season November 2 in Carlsbad. That match went to five games before the Lancers took a 15-11 victory in the deciding contest.

“That was hotly contested. It was a great match to watch,” Tomlinson said.

Had Fallbrook won that match, both teams would have been 9-1 in league competition and would have shared the conference title.

Carlsbad was given the third seed in the CIF playoffs, behind top-seeded La Costa Canyon and second-seeded Torrey Pines.

“I’m extremely proud of the girls for playing as well as they have considering all of the distractions,” Tomlinson said.

The forfeits concern the disputed eligibility of Pamela Cheu, who sat out the 2005 season after transferring from a Mexican school. Cheu attended a school in Mexico for seventh-year through ninth-year students and then attended a high school in Mexico. Fallbrook High School gave her credit for her tenth-year courses in Mexico but not for her ninth-year classes.

The CIF does not allow students to play interscholastic sports after eight high school semesters. “They started the clock on her ninth year of schooling in Mexico,” Tomlinson said.

Tomlinson, as well as the school administration, disagrees with that interpretation. “In order for it to be considered grade it has to be academic equivalent,” Tomlinson said.

The United States educational system is for the most part standard. “A ninth grader in California is doing the same work as a ninth grader in Maine, so when you start ninth grade they don’t care what school it’s in,” Tomlinson said.

Mexico has multiple academic systems. “It depends on where you’re coming from and what level work you’re doing,” Tomlinson said.

“Their system is fine for here, but they have failed to make allowances for where their system is incorrect,” Tomlinson said of the CIF prohibition on ninth-semester athletes. “I think they’re wrong to do it to Pamela because the kid had to attend four years of high school.”

Heather Schulte was Fallbrook High School’s athletic director when Cheu first enrolled at Fallbrook High School. Tomlinson said that Schulte met with CIF staff. “She [Schulte] at that point in time thought that Pamela was cleared to compete this year,” Tomlinson said.

The Fallbrook High School athletic department received a message from the CIF to err on the side of caution with regard to playing Cheu after allegations were made of her ineligibility. “There was nothing to be cautious about. Her eligibility had already been established by everybody at Fallbrook High School, and we believed that it had been cleared by everybody at CIF,” Tomlinson said. “Her high school transcript shows that she’s in her seventh semester.”

Because she was a transfer, Cheu sat out the 2005 season to avoid any ineligibility issues last year. “She deserved the right to play,” Tomlinson said. “Somebody else saw it differently and chose to punish her and the whole team for it.”

On October 5 the CIF held a meeting with Fallbrook High School athletic director John Hayek, principal Rod King, and district superintendent Tom Anthony, who is also the high school district’s representative on the CIF Board of Managers. The following day the school forfeited seven games in which Cheu had played and also filed an appeal of the forfeits.

A CIF rule bans teams with a more than a specified number of forfeits — five in the case of volleyball — from post-season competition. A school can appeal to the CIF commissioner to regain eligibility for the playoffs, but CIF commissioner Dennis Ackerman denied Fallbrook’s appeal on October 20.

Tomlinson noted that the eligibility violation wasn’t clearly defined. “At best one would say it’s a gray area,” he said.

If the CIF provided Fallbrook High School with the case for the forfeits in writing, Tomlinson hasn’t seen it. Neither has senior Carli Lloyd, who filed for the court injunction.

“Carli was denied due process by CIF. Essentially this has been going on since early September, and to this date CIF has never given Fallbrook anything in writing,” Tomlinson said. “They have prevented Carli from participation in what is her senior year in volleyball in playoff opportunities.”

Lloyd is one of four seniors on the team. Cheu, who has not played since late September, is also a senior. Hannah Haskell and Chelsea Ciaverelli are the Warriors’ other seniors.

Cheu also went to court for an injunction against her own ineligibility, but that injunction was denied. Cheu was not allowed to participate in the playoffs, but in the absence of a successful CIF appeal of the injunction the Warriors were given the right to post-season competition.

The CIF, however, moved the date of the first-round game between Calexico and Fallbrook from November 7, the date of all other first-round games, to November 8. That extra day created allowance for potential appeals, and it also gave the winner only one day between that game and the quarterfinal match November 9.

“How can <Ackerman> put Calexico at a disadvantage over everybody else in the tournament?” Tomlinson said. “Why is he punishing them, too?”

Success against the appeal and against the Bulldogs in the first round would provide one final home game for the Warriors tonight. That match will be followed by two additional rounds of playoff competition for the winners.

“We have two CIF battles going on. We have to beat CIF in court, and we have to beat CIF participants on the court,” Tomlinson said.