High school notebook: WPIAL officials question timing of transfer rule

By: HSSN Staff
Friday, June 29, 2018 | 9:36 PM

Transfers who switched schools this month might be treated differently by the PIAA than those who wait until July.

If the PIAA board enacts a new transfer rule at next month's meeting and forces transfers to sit out the playoffs, it's not yet clear who would fall under the new rule. The rule could take effect immediately, impacting only those who transfer after July 19, or the board “may establish a common date for implementation,” PIAA executive director Bob Lombardi said.

The WPIAL administration would like to see the implementation date moved up or back.

“If you don't and you make it effective the date of their meeting, then you're going to treat kids doing the same thing — transferring for the same academic year — differently,” WPIAL executive director Tim O'Malley said. “That's not fair. So either you make it retroactive to where all transfers for the 2018-19 school year are held to that rule, or you put it off.”

The PIAA board meets July 17-18, at Penn State.

WPIAL hearing dates

The WPIAL will hold eligibility hearings July 12 for transfers Cali Konek, Nicholas Salerno, Shawn Szymanski and Arely Valdez.

Konek, a basketball standout who averaged 45 points as a freshman at Imani Christian, transferred from Southmoreland to Franklin Regional for her senior year.

O'Malley said at the WPIAL meeting this month that the board was concerned Konek was headed to her fourth team in four years.

Salerno and Szymanski transferred from Plum to Burrell. The board wanted to meet with the pair, O'Malley said, because of a connection to the Mat Factory wrestling club, where Burrell coach Josh Shields is an instructor.

Valdez transferred to Our Lady of Sacred Heart, but Burgettstown administrators didn't approve the paperwork, O'Malley said.

Hampton doesn't approve

Hampton administrators did not approve the transfer paperwork for Isaac and Owen DeGregorio, who transferred this summer to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, O'Malley said.

The WPIAL, which received the paperwork Friday, could require an eligibility hearing for the brothers.

CWNC hired their father Dave DeGregorio as boys basketball coach in April. Isaac DeGregorio, a junior in the fall, was an all-section guard and 14-point scorer for Hampton last season. Owen will be a sophomore.

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Burgettstown, Burrell, Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, Franklin Regional, Hampton, North Catholic, Plum, Southmoreland