Granada Hills Rules Alsen Ineligible

Ian Alsen of Granada Hills High, one of the nation’s top high school distance runners, has been declared academically ineligible and his senior season is over.

School officials met Friday and reaffirmed that Alsen, who recorded two Cs and three Ds at the mid-semester grading period, has failed to meet the City Section’s minimum 2.0 grade-point average requirement.

“He was ineligible Monday and that’s the way it is,” Athletic Director Don Stone said. “There is no such thing as a grace period. It’s just a case of low grades.”

Alsen took the news philosophically, saying, “It is my fault and hopefully I can learn from what I did wrong and grow from it.”

Alsen still has 10 weeks to improve his grades--and his chances for a college scholarship. Alsen, who has the nation’s fastest outdoor times in the 1,600 (4 minutes, 9.67 seconds) and 3,200 (8:59.54), has been offered a scholarship by Arizona but has not decided where he will attend college.