Alabama high school scrutinized for irregularities

MONTGOMERY, Ala. ? The Alabama High School Athletic Association announced this week that officials from Prattville High School have asked the association to look into allegations of rules violations first reported in the Montgomery Advertiser.

In the three-sentence news release, the AHSAA promised to "thoroughly investigate" any possible rules violations. It also states it won't discuss the investigation because it involves students' scholastic records and other personal information.

• 
  

  PART 1: Questionable transfers

  
  


• 
  

  PART 2: Allegations from former teachers

  
  


• 
  

  PART 3: Zoning problems

  
  

AHSAA Executive Director Steve Savarese said that while this sort of "thorough" investigation isn't an everyday occurrence for his group, it's not that uncommon, either.

"We probably have one or two of these thorough investigations each year," Savarese said. "But anytime a member school calls and asks us to, we will investigate. I'll say that over 90% of the violations we have come from our member schools turning themselves in.

"Our schools do a good job of policing themselves, and occasionally we get requests such as this one."

In terms of a timeline for the investigation, Savarese said there isn't one.

"We're task-oriented, not time-oriented in these situations," he said. "We've had some last as long as six months and some that took only a month or two. We won't put a timeline on it. We'll investigate everything and do our jobs."

This week, the Advertiser has reported that at least four current athletes — football players Jalen Whitlow, Kordell Arrington and De'Ante Lawrence and baseball player Austin Crook — had made moves that might violate the AHSAA's "Bona Fide" move rule.

Whitlow's family has listed seven different addresses over the last two years, and the senior-to-be quarterback was prevented from playing for Stanhope Elmore last spring when head coach Jeff Foshee discovered he hadn't made a proper move to that school zone.

The families of Arrington, Lawrence and Crook all have second, larger homes in other school districts, and the Lawrences and Crooks have used the homes outside of Prattville to claim homestead exemptions, which allows a taxpayer to reduce taxes on his/her primary residence.

In addition to those players, there are still questions surrounding several players who never made the proper transition from the Prattville school zone to the Marbury zone when the school lines were redrawn nearly two years ago.

The Advertiser provided Autauga County Schools Superintendent Greg Faulkner with a list of students who listed addresses now zoned for Marbury but who were still attending and playing sports at Prattville.

Faulkner did not return messages left for him Monday or Tuesday.

Posted | Updated

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials

View the original article here

2011 Boys High School Track and Field top performers

Compiled for USA TODAY by Fred Baer, secretary of the Track and Field Writers of America, and Jack Shepard of Track and Field News.

Leading indoor season performance, if qualified, also included and denoted by 'i''.

(USA high school record through 2010 listed in brackets after each event heading)

100 meters(10.01)

10.28 Marvin Bracy, Boone (Orlando)

10.31 Remontay McClain, Covina, Calif.

10.31 Levonte Whitfield, Jones (Orlando).

Wind-aided:10.15 Jaylon Hicks, North Shore (Houston)

200 meters(20.13)

20.68 Remontay McClain, Covina, Calif.

20.82 Arman Hall, St. Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)

20.86 Aaron Ernest, Homewood, Ala.

400 meters(44.69)

46.22 Arman Hall, St. Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)

46.31 Kavarha Holmes, Breaux Bridge, La.

46.44 Hugh Graham, Northwestern (Miami)

800 meters(1:46.45)

1:49.25 Austin Mudd, Center Grove (Greenwood, Ind.)

1:49.62 O'Neal Wanliss, Holy Innocents Episcopal (Atlanta)

1:49.63 Cameron Thornton, Whitfield Academy (Mableton, Ga.)

1:49.63 Immanuel Hutchinson, San Jacinto, Calif.

1,500 meters(3:38.26)

3:47.60i Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (No. 3 all-time indoor performer);

3:47.61 Omar Kaddurah, Grand Blanc, Mich.

3:50.03 Josh Lampron, Mansfield, Mass.

3:50.1 Jantzen Oshier, Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo, Calif.)

1,600 meters (3:59.51)

4:00.83 Jantzen Oshier, Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo, Calif.)

4:03.00 Austin Mudd, Center Grove (Greenwood, Ind.)

4:04.04 Elias Gedyon, Loyola (Los Angeles)

Mile (3:53.43)

4:03.88i Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (No. 3 all-time indoor performer);

4:06.81 Jantzen Oshier, Trabuco Hills (Mission Viejo, Calif.)

4:07.15 Matt Carpowich, Torrey Pines (San Diego)

4:09.00 Ammar Moussa, Arcadia, Calif.

3,000 meters(7:59.83)

8:07.54i Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (No. 2 all-time indoor performer);

8:18.4 Ammar Moussa, Arcadia, Calif.

8:19.7 Matt Jablonski, Loyola-Blakefield (Baltimore)

8:20.0 Chris Walden, Carmel, Ind.

3,200 meters(8:34.23)

8:29.46 Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (USA high school record)

8:48.63 Billy Orman, Tuba City, Ariz.

8:49.59 Ammar Moussa, Arcadia, Calif.

2-Miles (8:34.40)

8:29.46 Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (USA high school record)

5,000 meters(13:37.91)

14:02.33 Edward Cheserek, St. Benedicts Prep (Newark, N.J.) (sophomore class record]

14:05.79 Ammar Moussa, Arcadia, Calif.

14:06.78i Lukas Verzbicas, Sandburg (Orland Park, Ill.) (USA high school indoor record);

14:13.68 Joseph Rosa, West Windsor-Plainsboro North (Plainsboro, N.J.)

2,000-m steeplechase (5:43.9)

5:55.4 Tim Luthin, Warwick Valley (Warwick, N.Y.)

6:07.20 Nick Posada, Winter Park, Fla.

6:08.86 Thomas Diliberto, St. Anthonys (South Huntington, N.Y.)

3,000-m steeplechase (8:50.1)

8:59.53 Edward Owens, Packer Collegiate (Brooklyn,) (No. 4 all-time performer)

9:00.11 Edward Cheserek, St. Benedicts Prep (Newark, N.J.) (No. 5 all-time and sophomore class record)

9:26.77 Shaun Thompson, Baldwinsville, N.Y.

110-meter high hurdles (13.08)

13.43 Johnathan Cabral, Agoura (Agoura Hills, Calif.) (13.27w)

13.63 Artie Burns, Northwestern (Miami) (sophomore class record)

13.64 Lorenzo Johnson, Mineral Wells, Texas

300-meter hurdles (35.02)

36.19 Johnathan Cabral, Agoura (Agoura Hills, Calif.)

36.34 Greg Coleman, Warren (San Antonio)

36.43 Kenneth Minkah, DeSoto, Texas

36.43 Eric Futch, Penn Wood (Lansdowne, Pa.)

400-meter hurdles (49.38)

51.89 Artie Burns, Northwestern (Miami)

52.21 Jermaine Collier, Trenton Central (Trenton, N.J.)

52.81 Christopher Grinley, Park Vista (Lake Worth, Fla.)

4 x 100 meter relay (39.76)

40.22 North Shore (Houston40.57 Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.)

40.68 St. Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)

4 x 200 meter relay (1:23.31)

1:24.45 North Shore (Houston)

1:24.81 St. Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.)

1:24.84 Copperas Cove, Texas

4 x 400 meter relay (3:07.40)

3:10.69 Northwestern (Miami)

3:11.49 St Aquinas (Ft Lauderdale, Fla.)

3:12.44 Poly (Long Beach, Calif.)

4 x 800 meter relay (7:30.67)

7:31.69 Poly (Long Beach, Calif.) (No. 3 all-time high school team)

7:37.43 Woodridge (Peninsula, Ohio)

7:37.79 Abington, Pa.

4 x 1600 meter relay (17:04.7)

17:22.40 Brookwood (Snellville, Ga.)

17:24.38 Loyola (Los Angeles).

17:25.60 Dana Hills (Dana Point, Calif.)

800 metermedley relay (1:28.20)

1:30.88 Smiths Station, Ala.

1:31.72 Walton (Marietta, Ga.)

1:32.15 Parkview (Lilburn, Ga).

Sprint medley relay (3:19.58)

3:27.58 St. Benedicts Prep (Newark)

3:27.78 West Orange, N.J.

3:28.89 Edmond (Okla.) Memorial

Distance medley relay (9:49.78)

10:02.23 Loyola (Los Angeles).

10:02.74i Warwick (N.Y.) Valley (No. 5 all-time indoor team)

10:03.80 Torrey Pines (San Diego, Calif.)

10:06.20 Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.

High jump (7-7)

7-2 ½ i Jonathan Christensen, Southmont (Crawfordsville, Ind.)

7-2 ¼ Justin Fondren, Oxford, Miss.

7-2 Jacorian Duffield, Randolph (Universal City, Texas)

7-2 Ailex Austin, San Marcos, Texas

7-2 Dartis Willis, Detroit Country Day (Beverly Hills, Mich.)

7-2 Tyler Donels, Southeast Polk (Pleasant Hill, Iowa)

Pole vault (18-3)

17-7i Andrew Irwin, Mt. Ida. Ark (USA high school indoor record).

17-3 Reese Watson, Spring, Texas

17-2 Andreas Duplantis, Lafayette, La.

17-2 Nikita Kirillov, St Pius X Catholic (Atlanta)

Long jump (26-10)

25-9 ½ i Marquis Dendy, Middletown, Del. (No. 3 all-time indoor performer)

24-10 ½ Jovonte Slater, Vista Murrieta (Murrieta, Calif.)

24-8 ½ Jaecob Snow, El Camino (Oceanside, Calif.)

24-8 Marquise Lee, Serra (Gardena, Calif.)

Wind-aided:25-2 ¼w Mykkele Thompson, Stevens (San Antonio)

Triple jump (54-10 1/4)

52-1 ½i Marquis Dendy, Middletown, Del. (No. 3 all-time indoor performer)

51-2 ½ Chris Brown, Hanahan, S.C.

50-11 ¼ Devante Davis, North Shore (Houston) (51-9w)

50-9 ¼ Kasen Williams, Skyline (Sammamish, Wash.)

Shot put (81-3 1/2)

77-2 ¾ i Ryan Crouser, Barlow (Gresham, Ore.) (USA HIGH SCHOOL INDOOR RECORD) (72-7 1/2 outdoors, No 7 all-time high school)

75-9 Nick Vena, Morristown, N.J. (No. 3 all-time high school)

69-3 Kyle McKelvey, Beresford, S.D.

Discus (236-6)

213-7 Ryan Crouser, Barlow (Gresham, Ore.)

207-9 Jayson Kovar, Burroughs (Ridgecrest, Calif.)

204-3 Samuel Mattis, East Brunswick, N.J.

Hammer (260-0)

229-3 Greg Skipper, Oregon City, Ore.

227-0 Brad Bolton, El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.)

219-5 Enrique Gaitan, Sprayberry (Marietta, Ga.)

Hammer (16-lb) (219-7)

202-10 Brad Bolton, El Toro (Lake Forest, Calif.) (No. 6 all-time performer)

Javelin (255-4)

232-1 Sean Keller, Heritage (Vancouver, Wash.)

224-3 McAuley Garton, Mill Valley (Shawnee, Kan.)

221-6 Rob Robbins, Northeast Bradford (Rome, Pa.)

Decathlon (w/HS implements) (7,909)

8035 Gunnar Nixon, Santa Fe (Edmond, Okla.) (USA high school record)

Decathlon (w/Intl.Jr. implements) (7,589)

7036 Gunnar Nixon, Santa Fe (Edmond, Okla.)

Decathlon (w/Intl. implements) (7466)

7524 Gunnar Nixon, Santa Fe (Edmond, Okla.) (USA high school record)

Notes: Leaders based upon marks verified as wind legal in sprints, hurdles, and horizontal jumps. Only fully automatic times are listed for sprints and high hurdles.

i = performed indoors

Updates (include complete performance data, date, and site) may be e-mailed to shepwest@aol.com

Posted | Updated

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials

View the original article here

Bliss finds more controversy in high school hoops

BRYAN, Texas ? Dave Bliss' first season as a high school basketball coach has given him a state championship — and raised new questions about his methods.

• 

  By Erich Schlegel, for USA TODAY

  
  

  Former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss, now at Allen Academy in Texas, finds himself in the middle of more controversy.

By Erich Schlegel, for USA TODAY

Former Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss, now at Allen Academy in Texas, finds himself in the middle of more controversy.

Eight years after being caught on tape trying to cover up NCAA rules violations at Baylor by portraying a murdered player as a drug dealer, Bliss again finds himself a subject of controversy even as he works to revive his career as a coach and administrator at a private school with fewer than 300 students.

• 
  

  LOOK BACK: Bliss looking for redemption with high school coaching job

  
  

This time it's a governing body for private high school sports that says Bliss is a rule-breaker, and the issues, stemming from an attempt to recruit high-profile transfers, have prompted fresh criticism of the 67-year-old coach.

"The thing most people have taken issue with is the fact that Coach Bliss had such baggage, a school gives him a second opportunity and then, instead of laying low for a few years, he went out and tried to bring in these ringers," said Jason Jump, who operates a website devoted to private high school sports in Texas.

Bliss was hired last May as coach, athletic director and dean of students at Allen Academy, which serves 250 students in kindergarten through grade 12. The hire put Bliss back in an educational setting for the first time since the scandal at Baylor, and it was widely publicized as his chance for redemption.

Yet, less than six months after taking the job, he was in hot water with the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools, the state's largest governing body for private high school sports.

The association ruled last November that two of the players Bliss recruited, both of whom were entering their senior years at Houston-area public high schools, received improper inducements because they were allowed to pay only a fraction of Allen Academy's $10,000 yearly tuition.

It also determined that Bliss forged the signature of the school's headmaster on a transfer form for another player who later decided not to enroll.

The findings led the association, commonly known as TAPPS, to place Allen Academy on two years' probation and suspend Bliss for a year.

The school vigorously disputed that it violated the rules, and, rather than comply with the sanctions, moved to another association, the smaller and lesser-known Texas Christian Athletic League.

"TAPPS misunderstood why I came here," Bliss said during a recent interview. "Their perception was based on what I'd done before. That's not me now."

But the association's top administrator says the matter is one of the messiest his group has ever dealt with.

"You've heard the cliche 'a can of worms'? This was a can of snakes," said Edd Burleson, the organization's longtime director.

Bliss was seeking a position that would allow him to coach high school basketball in Texas when he responded to an Internet job posting by Allen Academy last spring.

Officials at the school, which has operated in this city 100 miles northwest of Houston for more than 100 years, acknowledge that they have been trying to give their athletic program a higher profile. They say Bliss was thoroughly vetted and found to have traits that meshed well with their priorities.

"I felt like he had the right combination of personality and human relations experience to go with his athletic background," said headmaster John Rouse.

Rouse said that opinion hasn't changed.

"Things a Division I basketball coach typically wouldn't do he does in a blink of an eye, because he wants Allen to be a good place for kids," Rouse said.

Bliss has been admonished by the school for signing Rouse's name without authorization on the transfer form, but school officials downplay the matter.

"It's not like he forged his name and cashed a check for $100,000," said Jerry Bullin, who chairs the school's board of trustees.

Bliss said he signed the headmaster's name on the form because he was facing a deadline. There was no intent to deceive, he said.

"I have my scarlet letter, and I understand that," he said. "The only thing about it is, from this point forward, I am trying to do the right thing."

But some familiar with Bliss' efforts at Allen Academy don't see him as a changed man.

"He's giving speeches at the Final Four about how he's seen the light, but he's still not doing what you're supposed to do as a Christian," said Kevin Cross, coach at Dobie High School in the Houston suburb of Pasadena, where one of the transfers who received discounted tuition previously played.

Within months of Bliss' arrival, Allen Academy had re-established itself as a boarding school by leasing a block of apartments near the Texas A&M University campus and was attracting players from the Houston area, including several who were well known as college prospects.

The two players whose tuition arrangements were questioned ultimately helped the school complete a 20-12 season by winning the Texas Christian Athletic League's Class 2A title.

Allen Academy officials say discounted tuition is available to any student who seeks it, and the ability to pay is determined by a third-party company.

Rouse said he believes the TAPPS executive board, which made the ruling, showed itself to be biased against Bliss as well as certain ethnic groups. Both of the players whose tuition was questioned are black.

"My belief is they are a bunch of self-pious individuals out to pass judgment on people," Rouse said.

Burleson said the board treated Bliss no differently than anyone else.

"They are biased against people who break the rules," he said.

Posted

Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Hud Settlement Statement

View the original article here