Contact: Geoff Kimmerly or John Johnson          
517.332.5046 or [email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY – Based on additional information and review of the full educational transcripts recently received, the Executive Committee of the Michigan High School Athletic Association has determined that a Walled Lake Western student-athlete ruled earlier this month to be ineligible for this school year will be allowed to compete after finding the student will not exceed the maximum semesters of enrollment and competition as a high school student by playing sports in 2019-20.

Walled Lake Western, on behalf of the student, first reported the student’s potential ineligibility at the Executive Committee’s Aug. 1 meeting. The student had been homeschooled and also took courses through an online academy prior to enrolling at Walled Lake Western in 2016-17. Transcripts originally submitted to the MHSAA were incomplete regarding the student’s academic standing. The Executive Committee originally ruled the student ineligible for 2019-20 based on this initial information.

The new material consisted of the full records of the student’s educational history, including work completed as a homeschool student both working independently as well as taking courses in the online academy through 2015-16.  After a thorough review of these academic records, the Executive Committee confirmed Walled Lake Western’s initial determination that this student began ninth grade to start the 2016-17 school year, making the student eligible through the 2019-20 school year. 

The eligibility of all students at MHSAA member schools includes maximum eligibility in eight semesters since starting the ninth grade at any school. The Executive Committee did not approve a fifth year of eligibility; rather, the Committee determined based on all material submitted and discovered that the student’s seventh and eighth semesters of enrollment and competition will take place during the 2019-20 school year.

The Executive Committee consists of five members from the MHSAA’s Representative Council and convenes monthly to review appeals of Handbook regulations by member schools.

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