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Thursday, March 16, 2000
UH swim team
awaits court ruling
At issue is whether the NCAA
By Debra Barayuga
will disqualify 13 members based
on erroneous times reported
Star-BulletinSimon Thirsk has qualified to compete in one event at next week's NCAA men's swimming and diving championships in Minneapolis.
But the captain of the University of Hawaii men's team wants his seven teammates to compete as well.
"They (the NCAA) haven't considered what we put into it," Thirsk said yesterday after testifying at a hearing on a motion alleging breach of contract between 13 UH swimmers and the NCAA. "Not going to the NCAA championships isn't what hurts them (his teammates) the most. It's the enormous investment they've made, practicing six days a week for an entire year to prepare for this particular event - not to mention numerous sacrifices they've had to make - in order to swim in a race that may last no longer than 20 to 40 seconds."
Thirsk is the only swimmer among the eight UH men's qualifiers whose time was not disqualified by the NCAA. Although he expects to race next week, "My heart's not in it," he said.
The original suit also involved five members of the women's team. The NCAA women's championships began today in Indianapolis.
The amended request was filed on behalf of Thirsk, Edward Lovell, Pedro Ferreira, David Jenkins, Nick Folker, Luis Rojas, Terry Pruitt and Raymond Darling.
Thirsk, Lovell, Wahine swimmer Melanie Zauder testified they shouldn't be penalized for mistakes the university made in submitting their application. Also testifying at yesterday's hearing was UH athletic director Hugh Yoshida.
Circuit Judge Gail Nakatani today was expected to rule on the defense's motion for dismissal and hear testimony from defense witnesses, including UH swim coach Sam Freas.
On Tuesday, Nakatani rejected the motion for a temporary restraining order, but agreed to hear an amended motion yesterday alleging breach of contract between the swimmers and the NCAA.
At issue is whether the NCAA should be allowed to disqualify the 13 UH swimmers based on erroneous information provided to the national governing body.
Times submitted by UH to qualify for the national championships are being disallowed because in some instances, a hand-held stopwatch was used.
That's according to an affidavit by Kevin McNamee, chairman of the committee and associate athletic director at George Mason University, filed Tuesday in Circuit Court.
McNamee's affidavit is the first official written documentation from the NCAA of its basis for the UH swim teams' disqualification. But the affidavit does not go into specific detail.
McNamee wrote that, as a general rule, NCAA committee has authority to inquire about "such suspect times" and routinely investigates without the need for a formal written protest from member institutions.
Eric Seitz, attorney for 13 members of the UH men's and women's swim teams who filed suit against the NCAA Monday, contend the NCAA has refused to give the student-athletes a verbal or written reason for their disqualification.
If the use of a stopwatch was the reason for disqualification, NCAA rules clearly say - and any swimming federation would agree - that three timers using stop watches is a legal method of timing swimmers, Seitz said.
"We believe, and it's the UH's position, that these times were properly achieved and properly documented and we think we can prove that," said Seitz.
Yoshida testified yesterday that during a two-hour teleconference Monday with the NCAA, Freas admitted to making a reporting mistake that didn't meet NCAA requirements.
Specifically, Freas could not show that three stopwatches, two clock button timers or an electronic pushpad timer was being used at the time, Yoshida said.
There was no indication that the initial times submitted by the university was inaccurate, but Freas tried to submit alternate times, he said.
Seitz said the only error Freas or the university has admitted to was that on a couple of the entry forms, Freas had checked off that the time was derived using semiautomatic time clocks activated by a push button instead of a stop watch. NCAA bylaws give the swimming and diving committee authority to inquire into qualifying times, limit the number of entries or reject any application, Seitz said.
UH Athletics
Ka Leo O Hawaii
