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Northville Michigan Update - 11/19/2015 - DyeStatPublished by
Parents of Northville MI girls to file suit
By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor
A parent representative from the girls cross country team that finished second NXN Midwest on Saturday said Thursday that the group would pursue legal action against the Michigan High School Athletic Association over the issue of whether it can compete at Nike Cross Nationals.
Craig Harris of Farmington, Mich., another parent, sent a final appeal the Michigan state association on behalf of the NXC Running Club of Northville.
Without an immediate resolution in sight, the parents are hoping the courts can settle the dispute.
"Once again, we feel, the MHSAA is working against a girls sports team. Very sad and unfortunate. At this point, we feel our only recourse is a legal one," wrote Melinda Herrmann in an email to DyeStat.
At issue is an interpretation of the Michigan rule book. In 2013, two coaches asked for and received an updated interpretation from the state association to attend the NXN Midwest regional. That came about after Nike changed some of its wording regarding its entry requirements.
Two years later, Michigan teams traveled to Terre Haute expecting that same interpretation to be in effect.
The parents have a copy of that 2013 email exchange and plan to argue that the permission granted to pursue out-of-season competition as a non-school club should not have changed.
This is a copy of the email, sent by MHSAA assistant director Mark Uyl to Northville coach Nancy Smith, in 2013:
From: Mark Uyl Date: Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 8:28 PM Subject: RE: THank you
To: "Smith, Nancy" Cc: "[email protected]"
Nancy: Based on the information on the Nike website, students that are members of running clubs could compete in the Nike XC event as an individual or part of a club team without losing high school eligibility. This is based solely on the information posted athttp://nxnmw.runnerspace.com/.
Remember that there can be ZERO involvement of any school XC coach in working with students if more than 3 from your school decide to participate. This means no coaching, coordinating or otherwise assisting in this out-of-season activity in any way, shape or form (3 player rule applies).
Thank you.
Mark Uyl MHSAA Assistant Director More news |