Pleasant Valley runner's ineligibility upheld

A Pleasant Valley runner's ineligibility that resulted in her school's loss of a state girls' track team championship has been upheld by an Iowa administrative law judge.

Kaley Ciluffo, a junior last year, competed in several track meets against college athletes, which is a violation of state high school rules. Pleasant Valley won the Class 4-A state championship, but in July it was stripped of the crown by the Iowa Girls' High School Athletic Union's board of directors.

Ciluffo appealed her ineligibility to the state Department of Education, but Administrative Law Judge John Priester's ruling affirmed the Union's decision.

The "scholarship rule," which forbids Iowa high school athletes' competition with or against collegians in scored, sanctioned events, was violated by Ciluffo when she competed in meets in Illinois and New Jersey. The athlete and her family knowingly broke the rule, Priester wrote.

The decision supported the Union's ruling that Ciluffo was ineligible for high school competition, resulting in Urbandale being awarded the state title in July.

In documents obtained by the Register, details released for the first time to the public shed light on what happened:

•She ran in the Keck Invitational Feb. 7 at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill. She won the mile run against athletes representing their colleges.

•Ciluffo and her mother met with a Pleasant Valley track coach and the activities director Feb. 27 to inquire about competition in non-high school-sponsored meets. The family was provided with a copy of the scholarship rule and a contract form for use in conjunction with legal meets.

According to the judge's decision, the family did not disclose her previous competition in a meet that violated the rule.

•Subsequent emails exchanged between activities director D'Anne Kroemer and Michelle White, Kaley's mother, show the school's intent to keep her eligible:

"If there is a meet Kaley would like to participate in, please provide me the meet details — name of event, location, contact information (email/phone number) for the meet director, etc.. Coach Wheeler and I would both need to sign the Non-School Participation Contract prior to the event…I want to make sure Kaley's best interest is protected and I [sic] her high school and collegiate eligibility are not jeopardized," Kroemer wrote in an email to Michelle White, according to court documents.

•Ciluffo competed in a meet that included collegians competing for their schools in New Jersey on April 5. Neither Ciluffo or her mother contacted Pleasant Valley about running in the meet. Following the high school season, Ciluffo ran at a meet in New Jersey on June 7. Again, the family did not contact Pleasant Valley school officials.

•When questions about Ciluffo's possible ineligibility surfaced in June, school officials began an investigation. Michelle White, who met with Pleasant Valley officials and coaches June 25, initially said she has no knowledge of the April meet. She emailed the activities director June 26 and said she was indeed aware of the competition.

The judge wrote that Ciluffo knowingly violated the rules, which should be applied to all athletes.