St. Bonaventure states its case to stay in Northern area

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Marc Groff, the principal at Ventura St. Bonaventure, said he and athletic director John Muller made their case on Friday to Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod in a 30-minute presentation trying to convince Wigod to keep the Seraphs in the Northern area for placement of its sports program.

The Southern Section has put St. Bonaventure in the parochial area beginning in 2014, which would lead to a new league for all sports teams, creating travel and equity concerns.

Groff said Monday that his main issues were out-of-class time for students, geography and competitive equity.

‘The F word wasn’t mentioned one time,’ Groff said, referring to the Seraphs’ outstanding football team. ‘I made it clear we’re not putting up a fight about football.’

St. Bonaventure understands that its football team belongs in the toughest league possible, but under CIF rules, a school’s entire sports program must be in one area. And if the Seraphs are moved to the parochial area, that will produce severe hardships for other athletes in terms of travel and competition.

Groff said he also pointed out that St. Bonaventure is a commuter school, with the majority of its students coming from Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura, which would create additional travel problems.

The Catholic Athletic Assn. scheduled a meeting for Monday among athletic directors to begin coming up with ideas for the formation of new leagues with or without St. Bonaventure and Oaks Christian, which is also appealing a decision to put its program in the parochial area.

-- Eric Sondheimer