Low Grades May Cost Alsen Rest of Season

Ian Alsen of Granada Hills High, one of the top high school distance runners in the nation, might miss the rest of the season because of academic ineligibility.

Alsen, who has the nation’s fastest outdoor high school times in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, failed to meet the City Section’s minimum 2.0 grade-point average required to participate in extracurricular activities when the 10-week progress reports from the second semester were released Tuesday.

However, Granada Hills distance coach Bob Augello said Alsen could be extended a grace period to make up the necessary grades.

Alsen’s mother, Gail, will meet today with school administrators to discuss the matter.

Augello said Alsen’s academic problems took him by surprise.

“I had no idea he was having any problems,” Augello said. “He told me everything was going fine. It’s not like we’re not concerned with how the kids are doing in the classroom.

“We try to keep on top of that stuff.”

Unless he corrects his academic problems, Alsen will be prevented from defending his City title in the 3,200 meters and from competing in the state track championships in June.

It also could jeopardize his chances for a college scholarship.

Proposition 48, which went into effect in 1986, states that in order to attend an NCAA Division I school on athletic scholarship, an athlete must score at least 700 points on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and have a 2.0 grade-point average in core curriculum classes.

Unless Alsen brings up his grades by the end of the semester, he might not meet the required 2.0 core curriculum average, according to Augello.

“The only thing he can do now is just pull his grades up by the time he graduates,” Augello said. “He’s got to pull them up so he can get into a school.”

Alsen, the 1987 Kinney West regional and City cross-country champion who has bests of 4 minutes, 9.67 seconds for 1,600 meters and 8:59.54 for 3,200, declined an athletic scholarship offer by Arizona several weeks ago.

If Alsen signs a letter of intent but fails to meet Prop. 48 requirements, he will be forced to sit out his freshman year and lose a year of collegiate eligibility.