Golf team gets disqualified at state tournament

The Bigfork High School golf team was ready to cap off its standout season with what members hoped would be a stellar performance at the Class B State Tournament in Huntley Project, but the team made one mistake that cost them everything — they stopped to play golf.

The players, along with head coach Steve Hullett, left Bigfork on Sunday morning and while en route to Huntley Project stopped at the Old Works Golf Course to play a round.

"It just makes no sense at all," Hullett said. "The kids paid for their rounds. It had nothing to do with coaching. It was a break on the way over to get a little exercise on the 450-mile trip."

Section 14 of the Association and Executive Board Rules and Regulations in the Montana High School Association handbook states that, "The association prohibits member schools or students of a member school from participating in any inter-school contest or activity, or practice including chalk talks or meetings for such contests or activities, including cheerleading, on Sunday."

"I can't see how we got any advantage from it," Hullett said. "It's a silly MHSA rule that I didn't have access to. The only rule about Sundays I have in my entire stack of stuff I've received from MHSA is that you can hold Sunday practices in order to get a kid enough practices to be eligible for a Monday competition."

The Class B State Tournament began with a practice round on Monday morning and official play was held over the next two days.

The student athletes were joined on the course by both Hullett and Bob Keenan, the father of the sole Bigfork girl golfer that qualified for state Sara Keenan. Bob Keenan and Hullett were each driving a car load of kids to the tournament to save money by not having to hire a bus driver. Bigfork also qualified its boys team consisting of Kyle Parker, Steven Schuster, Ryan Conway, Blake Weimer and Ronnie Grenier. None of the kids are seniors.

"I didn't think we were breaking any rules," Hullett said. "If I had thought that we wouldn't have done it or at least I would've told the kids to keep their mouths shut. We weren't trying to hide anything. The kids told the other kids in their groups about it and I told other coaches. The Deer Lodge coach told me he wished he would've known we were there because he would've stopped with his kids so they could all play together."

MHSA executive director Mark Beckman was altered about the violation by another team's coach Tuesday afternoon after the first round of play had been completed. He had MHSA assistant director Brian Michelotti contact BHS activities director Matt Porrovecchio to ask if the Bigfork team had indeed stopped to play. When Porrovecchio confirmed it, Michelotti notified him that the team was disqualified. Porrovecchio called Hullett to pass on the bad news and the team returned home the following morning.

"The kids ended up paying for something I supposedly did wrong," Hullett said. "That shouldn't be the case. If they want to fine me, then fine. Everyone has lost perspective in sports. It's about the kids."

Bigfork was fined $50, was not permitted to finish the tournament and did not have the $25 per player entry fee refunded to them.

Although Hullett is taking the blame for the incident, Keenan said she and her teammates don't see it that way.

"We don't blame coach at all," she said. "He did everything he could. None of us knew the rule so we can't really be mad about it. It just stinks. I would've loved to get All-State and I know some of the boys probably would've gotten All-State too."

In golf, All-state honors are exclusively given to the players who place in the top 15 at their state tournament. This is done instead of having coaches vote for athletes as is done with team sports like basketball and soccer.

The Bigfork golfers were showing promise during the first round of play, which Hullett said makes the situation that much more disheartening. Keenan was five strokes out of first place among the girls and Kyle Parker was five strokes out from the boy's leader.

"The way they are playing there is no doubt in my mind that they would've shot real well and Sara would've finished in the top two and Kyle would've finished in the top five or six."

Loyola's Kelsie and Maggie Crippen who finished second and fifth in the competition, respectively, called Keenan when they heard news of her disqualification.

"They called to tell me how sorry they were and that they were just sick about it," Keenan said. "It was nice that other teams were supporting us."

Although she has made peace with it now, Keenan's initial reaction was what one would expect.

"I was pretty devastated," Keenan said. "At first, I was kind of shocked and then I just got really upset. There's nothing we can really do at this point except move on."

Following the previous night's news of their disqualification, Hullett went ahead and called for his players' tee times to keep in line with another MHSA rule he was aware of that states that teams will be fined if they don't compete in the state golf tournament. He was told that Bigfork had none due to the disqualification.

"If it was a break of the rules of golf or they were cheating, I would have no problem with the disqualification, but the way it went down really just didn't make sense," Hullett said.

Hullett said that he was also frustrated in the fact that he is not the first coach to break a rule this year in the sport that tends to have rules bent due to its individualized nature.

"I know for a fact that there are other teams that have played the tournament course on the Sunday before the practice round and nothing ever came from that," Hullett said. "I don't want them to get it trouble for it, but that's why I didn't think we were doing anything wrong. We didn't even play the tournament course."

Porrovecchio sent a letter of appeal to the MHSA board, which they will review in September.

"I'm very disappointed," Porrovecchio said. "My only hope is that some positive change can come from this unfortunate situation."

However, by not allowing the Bigfork players to compete in the second day of competition, it eliminated the chance for a remedy in the appeals process.

Both Hullett and Porrovecchio said that the Sunday rule seemed to be already violated by those who scheduled the tournament. With the practice round starting Monday morning, most of the teams had little choice but to meet and travel to the tournament as a team.

"There is a very apparent conflict between the scheduling and the rule and there should be accommodations made to allow the kids and coaches to do what they are there to do and what they have been doing all season and that's be a team," Porrovecchio said. "The rule and the subsequent requirement of the traveling is such that trying to uphold the rule in this very specific situation is in no way in the best interest of the kids. You're already telling them that they have to travel on a bus for six hours. The coaches should be allowed to make it a productive trip."

However, Beckman said that the scheduling and traveling were not a violation of the Sunday rule. He also said the Class B Golf Tournament is commonly held over the first few days of a week to get administrators at more prestigious golf courses to host it.

"Coaches hopefully understand the rule and don't talk about golf," he said. "I used to coach golf and during tournaments like this the kids usually get into their gift bags and start eating their cookies and listening to their head phones. You can't assume that golf was talked about just because they rode over with their coach."

Beckman said that a reminder about the Sunday rule was sent out earlier this year and that it is also stated in the online golf clinic, which every coach is required to complete prior to the start of the season.

He also added that this is the first violation he has seen with the Sunday rule in the more than 10 years he has worked at the MHSA.

"The rule was put in in the 1950s for players to have a day to spend with their families and a day for the coaches to have to spend with theirs too," Beckman said.

Beckman also insisted that Sunday travel was not forced on any school as the Monday practice round is optional.

"I think that the Sunday rule is a great rule," Porrovecchio said. "It's important for the kids to have a day of rest during their sports season. However, I think it needs to revised. I think this is just a unique situation and the rule needs to be applied accordingly."