City Section has wrestling controversy

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Another day, another controversy involving the City Section. Dillon Freeman, a wrestler for Granada Hills, was disqualified from competing at last weekend’s City championships after he forgot to bring his school picture ID and didn’t retrieve it in time before official weigh-ins were completed for his weight class.

He had a driver’s license but officials said that was not good enough. Then the school athletic director was able to e-mail Freeman’s school ID via a phone. John Aguirre, the City Section administrator, approved that, but then several coaches complained that Freeman violated competition rules because he went onto the scale after everyone else had.

Now that’s great. Coaches stepping forward to deny a kid a chance to compete because he forgot his ID, then got it but missed the weigh-in. Ridiculous.

Barbara Fiege, the City Section commissioner, said, ‘We can’t arbitrarily decide what rules apply and don’t apply.’

Freeman’s attorney, Keith Gregory, said he had written a letter to the CIF requesting that Freeman be given a chance to gain entrance to this weekend’s state meet.

Freeman won last year’s City title at 160 pounds and was favored to win at 152. The City Section is refusing to overturn the disqualification. But Fiege did say perhaps there should be a look at whether the rule that doesn’t allow a driver’s license to serve as an ID needs to be changed.

Let’s hear it for those honest wrestling coaches out only to protect the rules. Baloney.

-- Eric Sondheimer