MECHANICSBURG - A PIAA board of appeal Thursday remanded back to District 4 the district's September decision to suspend former Line Mountain wrestling state champion Zain Retherford for the 2011-12 season after Retherford's August transfer to Benton.
Citing "procedural issues" which the district committee apparently did not follow in its hearing, the board of appeal ordered the district to "expedite another hearing as soon as possible."
That means that for now, Retherford, a 2010 Class AA 103-pound state champion for Line Mountain who finished third at 112 in 2011 and has a career record of 84-3, is still ineligible to wrestle in either meets or scrimmages until another hearing is held. District 4 committee chairman James Zack, Shamokin Area superintendent, who attended the hearing, said having another hearing at the district level would take some time.
"I don't see that happening in the next week or so," Zack told the board of appeal. "Next week is Thanksgiving and schools will be on holiday."
Zack later said in an interview that he thought the district's original decision was reached fairly, but that he wasn't disappointed with the decision to redo the process.
"It is what it is," Zack said. "They want to make sure we follow the proper procedures. I thought we did, and apparently they didn't. I don't think it's a problem. I just want to make sure everybody gets heard. We want to be fair."
Zack added that getting the district committee back to a hearing in a timely fashion will be tough.
"We have Thanksgiving, and then deer hunting, coming up," Zack said. "We'll do the best we can."
The first day of competition for the winter sports season is Dec. 9.
Robert Lombardi, assistant executive director of the PIAA, said it wasn't unusual for a district decision to be remanded back to the district.
Retherford's family and Benton School District appealed the district's decision to the PIAA.
The board felt there were two main issues which the district committee didn't follow properly at its hearing, and which were brought up by Joel Wiest, attorney for the Retherford family. One was the issue of sequestration, in which certain persons giving testimony for either Benton or Line Mountain were kept out of the hearing room while others testified. According to
the board, all sides should have been kept in the room and been available for cross-examination. Another issue was that of which order testimony was given at the hearing. Line Mountain testimony was given first at the district hearing.
All testimony from the first hearing, which was recorded in transcript form, will now be moot.
"We're starting from square one," said Michael Solomon, director of legal affairs for the PIAA.
That upset some members of the Line Mountain group attending the hearing.
"That means they're (the Retherfords) free to change their testimony," assistant wrestling coach Josh Phillips said to school board member Troy Laudenslager as they left the meeting room. Laudenslager had asked whether the September testimony was still permissible.
David Campbell, Line Mountain superintendent, didn't have much to say after the decision.
"I don't have a comment because I don't even know how to explain what went on in there," said Campbell.
Neither Allen nor Sarah Retherford, the wrestler's father and mother, commented on the decision.
Russ Hughes, head wrestling coach at Benton, said he was surprised at the decision.
"It's much different than I expected," said Hughes, who added he hoped a final decision would be reached soon. "I can't speak for the Retherfords but I would like to see this whole issue be put to bed soon."
Retherford has been practicing with Benton and will continue to work out with the team whether he's allowed to wrestle or not this season.
Some of the issues which the district committee heard at the September hearing involved Allen Retherford's dissatisfaction with the support his son received at Line Mountain, and his dissatisfaction with the coaching philosophy and style of Lon Balum, a former Line Mountain head coach who served as interim coach last season. Balum, a Line Mountain guidance counselor who has been active with the wrestling program on and off for most of the past two decades, was hired as interim coach last fall after Mike Martz, who coached Retherford to his state title the season before, resigned unexpectedly due to family reasons. Martz will be the head coach again this season, and members of the Retherford family testified at the September hearing that Zain Retherford like Martz and considered him a friend.
Other issues included the family's access to Allen Retherford's job and Sarah Retherford's access to Bloomsburg University, where she is taking courses, and Bloomsburg Hospital, where she is being treated for a pituitary tumor which keeps her from working at the Retherford farm in Dornsife. The Retherfords also accused Line Mountain of turning a deaf ear to charges that Retherford had been bullied at the school. Campbell previously said the Retherfords never brought up the issue of bullying before the transfer, and said the allegations were without merit.
Joseph Goode, Benton principal, pointed out to the board that charges that Hughes, through his Benton Tiger Wrestling Club, recruits wrestlers to compete for Benton High School, were without merit.
"Just because they go to the Benton camp doesn't make it true," Goode said.
Wiest pointed out that Line Mountain coaches actually pointed Retherford in the direction of Hughes when the wrestler inquired where he could go to get better freestyle coaching.
Members of the board of appeal included Raymond Wotkowski, District 6 chairman; Samuel Elias, District 3 chairman; Jon Vallina, District 7 vice-chairman; Daniel Cardone, District 7 treasurer; John Tommasini, Department of Education representative; Gerald Schwille, PSASDA representative; and William Schoen, male officials' representative.
In a related case hearing held Thursday, District 7's decision to not allow Charleroi state champion Cody Wiercioch's transfer to Canon-McMillan was overturned on a 7-0 vote, thereby upholding Wiercioch's transfer.