PRIOR ISSUES OF NEWS & LEAGUE NOTES

February 28, 2007

GROUP A STATE QUARTERFINAL BASKETBALL SITE AND DATE CHANGES
Accommodations made in anticipation of large crowds

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHARLOTTESVILLE , VA – The Group A girls and boys basketball quarterfinal match-ups originally scheduled to take place at Castlewood High School on Saturday March 3 at 2:00 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. will instead take place at Virginia High School , game day and time unchanged. For the girls game, Gate City will play Radford and for the boys game, Gate City will play George Wythe.

High pre-game ticket sales prompted VHSL Assistant Director Joyce Sisson to make this change. “With a 2,500 seat gymnasium, Virginia is better equipped to handle the number of spectators that are expected to attend.”

The Floyd County vs. J.J. Kelly girls game at Christiansburg High School has also been moved from Friday, March 2 to Saturday, March 3. Game time is 7:00 p.m.

All semifinal and final games will be played March 7-10 in the Alltel Pavilion at Virginia Commonwealth University ’s Siegel Center . Please consult the VHSL website at (http://www.vhsl.org/BkbState.htm) for more information.

ABOUT VHSL

The Virginia High School League is a voluntary, non-profit corporation whose members are the 308 public high schools in Virginia . More than 170,000 boys and girls participate in VHSL athletic competitions in 28 different sports each year, and another 24,000 students take part in the League's academic activities that include debate, drama, forensics, school publications, creative writing and academic competition.

February 9, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Freedom HS Appeal Heard and Denied

Contact: Ken Tilley

CHARLOTTESVILLE – A five-member Virginia High School League executive appeals committee voted 4-0-1 to deny the appeal for waiver of the contest forfeiture penalty and $100 fine imposed on Freedom High School of Woodbridge for its use of an ineligible player in regular season boys’ basketball games played earlier this season.

Freedom High School reported the infraction to League staff in a letter dated February 6, 2006. School officials sought a waiver based upon information indicating that a member of the team falsified residence information relative to his school enrollment.

"It is true that the League has waived penalties in some previous cases where a student participated as an ineligible after giving false information," said VHSL Executive Director Ken Tilley. "But what distinguishes this case from those where relief was granted is that the student continued to play while the investigation was pending. When there is doubt about a student's eligibility status, it is essential that any discrepancies are resolved before the player participates."

The decision of the Executive Committee in regard to penalty appeals is final.