Alsen Awaits Official Ruling on Eligibility

Ian Alsen’s academic eligibility was still in question Thursday night as were his chances to participate in the City Section and state track championships.

Alsen, a senior at Granada Hills High and one of the nation’s top high school distance runners, said he would get a final ruling on his grades today.

“It’s still up in the air,” he said Thursday night. “I’m supposed to know for sure tomorrow morning.”

However, Don Stone, Granada Hills’ athletic director, indicated that Alsen, the defending City Section champion in the 3,200 meters, already was on academic probation.

“As of this morning, he was on probation,” Stone said Thursday. “I haven’t heard anything since to the contrary.”

Alsen, who has the nation’s fastest outdoor times in the 1,600 (4 minutes, 9.67 seconds) and 3,200 (8:59.54), failed to meet the City Section’s minimum 2.0 grade-point average required to participate in extracurricular activities when progress reports from the second semester were released Monday.

He made up several tests Wednesday, however, which could improve his grades and 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 a athletic scholarship, an athlete must score at least 700 points on the Scholastic Aptitude Test and have a 2.0 grade-point average in core curriculum classes.

Alsen might not meet the core curriculum requirements if his grades do not improve.

Although Arizona offered Alsen a scholarship several weeks ago, he has not decided where he will attend college.

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.