Northville NXN team barred ability to go to NXN nationals by MHSAA rule after qualifying in regionals

The hashtag was said wrong it is actually #GetNXCtoNXN

Obviously this rule is stupid and insane. But let's say that the MHSAA does what all state high school leagues do, which is drag their feet for a while, then finally shrug, say "rules are rules," and go back to worrying about football. What then?

Honestly: They should just go to NXN anyways. What's MHSAA going to do, pull their eligibility? Even if they do, NXN is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Probably worth it, especially if they have a lot of seniors. If they go, they force the MHSAA's hand, which will obviously get them even more bad press and will lead to increased pressure to force a rule change.

Lawyer up. May cost some money, but will be worth it. Make it such a legal headache that they never dare do this to anyone again. The pain your children are feeling now will just be passed on to the next group in Michigan if you don't stand up to them now. Take a stand, sue them silly, go anyway, and let the lawyers get your kids eligibility back.

Here is a little secret all of these associations don't want you to know...shhhhh...They never win in court! Go after them hard and fast and they will back down!

Best of luck!

A further article can be found by milesplit here:

http://www.milesplit.com/articles/169672-mhsaa-says-no-nxn-for-northville-high-school-girls

With enough support the rule may actually change. Parents of the atheletes have spent a week now trying to communicate with MHSAA but with little success. Any support can help increase chances of changing the decision. I'm not exactly sure what they are going to do if MHSAA does not change the rule, and if they would be allowed to just go. It is possible NXN would not allow that, but who knows.

Support has been shown by Dathan Ritzenheim here:

https://twitter.com/djritzenhein/status/667060575147417600

Kevin Hanson here:

https://twitter.com/hansonsrun

And many other organizations such as milesplit, dyestat, gazelle sports, etc.

Let me get this straight. They cannot run because everyone on the team is from the same high school? I thought that was a requirement for Nike Nationals... Truly does not make any sense, and now I see why they are apparently the first Michigan team to qualify.

Too funny.. Best of luck though.

What's the consequence? The MHSAA can't arrest them or anything; they can't physically stop them from going and competing.

This makes zero sense. Why on earth is it a problem for all the girls to attend the SAME school? What's the problem?

MHSAA could suspend them from State meets

Letter-writing campaign. Duh. If they're so old-school as to refuse to acknowledge the national spread of high school sports, they're pretty unlikely to care about a twitter war.

Even if they are from the same school, didn't they compete as an unaffiliated CLUB(not a school).

A high school association should not be able to bar a club from doing anything.

Boo hoo. #fnxn #fnike

Any Which Way But Loose wrote:

Even if they are from the same school, didn't they compete as an unaffiliated CLUB(not a school).

A high school association should not be able to bar a club from doing anything.

The MHSAA cannot bar the club from doing anything. It could, however, determine the individuals that make up the club are no longer eligible to compete with the rest of the high schoolers in Michigan.

Dumb interpretation of the rule. MHSAA, OHSAA and others need to get their act together - they are competing together, not representing their school (meaning they are not being coached by, wearing the uniforms of or being transported by nor accommodated by anyone also paid by or representing the school), in an event that is outside the state HS sports season, meaning I would think it shouldn't come under the purview of the state association.

Lawschoolgrad wrote:

Lawyer up. May cost some money, but will be worth it. Make it such a legal headache that they never dare do this to anyone again. The pain your children are feeling now will just be passed on to the next group in Michigan if you don't stand up to them now. Take a stand, sue them silly, go anyway, and let the lawyers get your kids eligibility back.

Here is a little secret all of these associations don't want you to know...shhhhh...They never win in court! Go after them hard and fast and they will back down!

Best of luck!

I agree with this. Go anyway and force the state's hand. Then if the state tries to suspend them, get the lawyers involved. From what I'm reading I don't understand how the state association wins this one in court.

If you graduate ineligible, it can possibly affect your NCAA elig. "Look it up" 8?/

I know one of the athletes expressed concerns for this. One of them committed to a large D1 university and another 2 are running D3. They cannot risk their future eligibility.

That said they may get a lawyer soon.

I know one of the athletes expressed concerns for this. One of them committed to a large D1 university and another 2 are running D3. They cannot risk their future eligibility.

That said they may get a lawyer soon.

quickrunner789 wrote:

What's the consequence? The MHSAA can't arrest them or anything; they can't physically stop them from going and competing.

This makes zero sense. Why on earth is it a problem for all the girls to attend the SAME school? What's the problem?

In California some swimmers competed in a non-sanctioned event and the swimmers lost one year of eligibility. If they race it could cost them next year's XC season and state meet. It's not worth it if you ask me.

This of course is the same state that looked the other way when Chris Webber was getting paid all through HS. Makes sense.

Big Tone wrote:

If you graduate ineligible, it can possibly affect your NCAA elig. "Look it up" 8?/

I'm pretty sure the NCAA eligibility rules only consider the NCAA's own restrictions, not whether you violated your local high school league's rules. Lots of athletes in the NCAA who ditched their high school leagues and lost no NCAA eligibility (Maton, for example).

Eva N wrote:

This of course is the same state that looked the other way when Chris Webber was getting paid all through HS. Makes sense.

True, but at least they're consistent. He wasn't allowed to go out of state to play for Country Day either.