The WPIAL had eligibility hearings Tuesday with two student-athletes. One was made eligible after transferring while the other will not get an extra year of eligibility.
The WPIAL Board of Directors refused to grant Southmoreland wrestler Austin Griffiths an extra year of eligibility. Griffiths has placed in the top five twice at the PIAA tournament.
Meanwhile, the WPIAL ruled Lexi Griggs is eligible to play at Vincentian after transferring from Hampton. Vincentian is the three-time defending WPIAL Class A champion and also won a PIAA title this past season. Griggs' departure is certainly a loss for Hampton. She was Hampton's leading scorer last year as a sophomore, averaging 12.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
As for Griffiths, the WPIAL ruled him ineligible based on the stance that he already has used up the allotted eight semesters of eligibility in high school.
Griffiths case is a little complicated and needs some explaining. Griffiths attended Southmoreland in seventh and eight grade, but decided to enroll at a cyber school in ninth grade. WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley said Griffiths was enrolled at the cyber school until February of his ninth-grade year, when he decided to drop out and enroll as an eighth-grader at Geibel Catholic junior high school.
Griffiths then enrolled as a ninth-grader again at Southmoreland at the start of the 2011-12 school year. He placed third at the PIAA tournament in 2012 and fifth in 2013. He qualified for the PIAA tournament in 2014, but did not place.
By actually starting ninth grade at the cyber school, the WPIAL ruled Griffiths "eligibility clock" started. Under PIAA rules, once a student starts ninth grade, he has four years of eligibility.
"Looking at the criteria that would give him another year, he didn't fit any of them," said O'Malley.
If Griffiths never would have enrolled at the cyber school as a ninth-grader and instead repeated eight grade from the start, and not played a sport that year, he would've been eligible this year. Under PIAA rules, a student can repeat eighth grade. But he can't play a sport that year and still have four years of eligibility in ninth grade.
And one other point of clarification. A student can be in eighth grade and play on a ninth-grade sports team. That does not start his high school eligibility clock. The clock starts only when the student begins ninth grade.
As for the Griggs case, Hampton did not sign off on the transfer, meaning they thought athletic intent might be involved. But the WPIAL ruled Griggs eligible after listening to evidence.
Griggs will make a strong Vincentian team only stronger. Vincentian already has Brenna Wise, the Post-Gazette Player of the Year last season.
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