WIAA upholds playoff ban of Westosha Central

WestoshaCentral-webBoard of Control rejects appeal 8-1

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

Despite pleas from the Westosha Central High School community, the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Control upheld its decision to ban the school’s girls volleyball team from the playoffs.

The Board of Control’s 8-1 decision comes after the team filed an appeal to overturn the ruling Monday, when the players learned they were disqualified from the playoffs, citing a 30-year-old WIAA bylaw that caps regular season tournaments at seven.

Following Saturday’s Southern Lakes Conference tournament, where the Falcons held their eighth regular season tournament, Westosha Central Athletic Director Jonathan Lindh reportedly received information from an undisclosed school Sunday that they exceeded the cap.

Noting mandate, Lindh self reported the violation to the WIAA, who in turn, barred the team from the playoffs.

The team responded, filing an appeal to overturn the ruling, stating they should not be held accountable for the actions of administrators.

“We the Westosha Central varsity volleyball players, as dedicated hardworking student-athletes have been blindsided with the news today of being disqualified from postseason play due to a scheduling error by our athletic director and coach (Charlie Berg),” the team stated.

The dedicated and hardworking student-athletes, along with some parents, made the trip to the WIAA office in Stevens Point on Tuesday and Wednesday.

However, despite pleas from the team and members of the Central community, the WIAA still rejected the appeal.

Heartbreaking end
Westosha Central, ranked fifth in the state, held a No. 1 seed in Region 6 after finishing second in the SLC.

Consequently, the decision marked an end to the high school careers of five seniors: Sarah Blair, Julianna Ellerbrock, Abi Marcquenski, Kaeley Mueller and Nikki Stratton.

In a team statement, the team expressed gratitude towards the Westosha Central community for their support.

“The players and parents of the Westosha Central girls volleyball program would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming support of our program,” the team stated.

Furthermore, the team hopes this serves as an example for the WIAA, which received a request to reconsider the 30-year-old bylaw.

“We would like you to know that we did not just appeal our case but went in asking the Board of Control to change the by-laws for any team in this situation after us,” the team said.

While the season ended on a disappointing note, the team hopes the plea for change saves another team from facing the same turmoil.

“Although we will not be allowed to complete our season, we feel we made a significant impact for every player at every school that might face this in the future,”

Jennifer Eisenbart, Editor of the Burlington Standard-Press, contributed to this report.

The Westosha Report is in process of gathering information from WIAA.


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2 responses to “WIAA upholds playoff ban of Westosha Central”

  1. Barry Bianco Avatar
    Barry Bianco

    What a tragedy. The purpose of the WIAA should be to promote and support student athletes and athletic programs not simply enforce arbitrary rules. The mistake by the administrators and coaches at Central was a management mistake, failing to realize a rule change from 8 tournaments to 7. This doesn’t represent cheating or any other type of scandalous behavior on the part of the school or team…it was an administrative error plain and simple. Put the school on probation, change the seed ranking etc. but to eliminate the team and snuff out 4 years of hard work by the senior girls involved is a travesty and not at all in the spirit of high school athletics. Rules are in place for a reason and no one disputes that the rule was broken but we live in a world that is not black and white but shades of gray. An alternative enforcement to the rule violation could have been arrived at that did not punish the students who had nothing to do with the issue but bore the brunt of the punishment none the less. Shame on the WIAA committee that couldn’t see the light. It appears, excepting one committee member, that the WIAA management needs to find a new line of work where critical thinking, compassion, and common sense are not required. Shame on you WIAA.

    1. Donna Avatar
      Donna

      So right!!! so sad for the girls and probably the adults beating themselves up over not catching it sooner 🙁 we loved you girls!! My daughter plays pretty instensely to be like you in HS!!