Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 10, 1994 TAG: 9409020018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS AND STAFF REPORTS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
However, U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar indicated he might grant an injunction before the season opens so the student, Lorenzo A. Thompson, can play. Doumar said he wanted to give the league's board of appeals time to rule on Thompson's petition for a waiver of the age limit.
``Right now, I don't think it is necessary to issue an injunction,'' Doumar said after listening to several hours of testimony on the age limit and how the league grants waivers.
Thompson, a running back and Granby's leading scorer last year as a junior, filed a lawsuit last week after the executive committee of the Charlottesville-based VHSL refused his request to play his senior year.
League rules limit interscholastic activities - everything from football to cheerleading to debating - to students 18 and younger. Thompson was held back in the first and third grades because of reading difficulties, but he has progressed normally in his first three years at Granby.
Ken Tilley, executive director of the VHSL, said the age limit has existed since the organization was established in 1913. He said the rule is based on safety, fairness and equity-of-competition considerations to ensure high school athletes are generally the same physical size and maturity.
``I don't know that we could ever establish a perfect weight as opposed to a dangerous weight'' for football players, Tilley said.
But Thomas B. Shuttleworth, Thompson's attorney, questioned why his client, at 5-foot-11 and 172 pounds, would be a safety risk. He also said the league should have strictly enforced the age limit, rather than allowing waivers in some cases without formal standards for granting exemptions.
Shuttleworth also argued that Thompson needs to play in the fall to have a chance at a college football scholarship, even though Thompson reportedly has a low grade-point average and failed to make the minimum score required for freshman eligibility on the preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test.
The league's age rule has been upheld in a number of state court cases, but Thompson's suit is the first federal challenge, and Doumar said he was concerned whether the issue belonged in federal court.
The judge said he would wait until Thompson's VHSL appeal is heard, probably next week, before deciding what to do. He said he would review the case again Aug.29. Football season opens with games Sept.1.
Thompson can practice with his team pending a ruling.
In other sports in the region:
Lisa Carr went 3-for-4 and scored two runs to lead Bedford to a 6-2 victory over Alabama in the quarterfinals of the Dixie Debs 19-under World Series at the Moyer Complex in Salem.
In other quarterfinal games , Louisiana beat Tennessee 5-4, and Mississippi pounded North Carolina 13-1.
For Bedford, Karla Goff picked up the pitching victory, allowing two runs on eight hits and one walk in seven innings.
T.J. Wren led Alabama, going 2-for-3 with a double.
In Mississippi's victory, Laura Simpson went 3-for-3 with a home run, double and single. Jana Buford picked up the pitching win, striking out five in three innings, and was 3-for-4 at the plate.
In Louisiana's victory, Becca Allen went 2-for-4 and scored a run, and Kaita Williams went 2-for-4. For Tennessee, Jennifer Denning went 2-for-3 and scored a run.
In the semifinals tonight, Tennessee plays Mississippi at 6 and Bedford plays Louisiana at 8.
Laura Hanner, a setter for Virginia Tech, will miss the volleyball season after undergoing reconstructive surgery on her right knee.
Hanner, who will be a sophomore in the fall, tore the anterior cruciate ligament while working at a camp in her hometown of Georgetown, Texas. Hanner set a school record for assists by a freshman with 1,158 last season, and she will have three seasons of eligibility after redshirting in 1994-95.
Carrie Doupnik pitched and drove in four runs as the Vinton Sluggers defeated Mississippi 8-7 to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Dixie Belles 13-15 softball tournament in Waverly, Tenn.
Second-seeded K.J. Hippensteel of Roanoke, along with the rest of the draw, had the day off because rain washed out play in U.S. Tennis Association Boys' 14 National Hard Courts tournament in San Antonio. Hippensteel has reached the quarterfinal round in doubles and the third round in singles.
Bill Raleigh has been appointed acting golf coach at Washington and Lee for the 1995 season, athletic director Mike Walsh announced. Raleigh succeeds Buck Leslie, who retired after 34 years. Raleigh will retain his duties as an assistant basketball coach at W&L.
by CNB