Eligibility Petition in Trouble for Simi Valley Transfer Student : Prep basketball: Ecuadoran player found to be a fifth-year senior during appeal to Southern Section.

Simi Valley High’s attempt to gain eligibility for an Ecuadoran transfer student was delayed, and perhaps terminated, when it was revealed during an appeal hearing at the Southern Section office in Cerritos that the student is a fifth-year senior.

Simi Valley officials were contesting a decision by the Southern Section office, which had twice denied the eligibility of Diego Cabezas, a transfer from Ecuador who had sought to play varsity basketball.

The Southern Section ruled that, because Cabezas is not part of a foreign-exchange program, he is not eligible to participate in varsity athletics.

Simi Valley officials were granted an appeal hearing Wednesday, and summoned legal counsel that was prepared to contest the Southern Section’s application of a rule prohibiting students transferring from another country to participate in varsity athletics their first year. But during the hearing, it was discovered that Cabezas had repeated the 10th grade in Ecuador, thus was a fifth-year senior and ineligible to play varsity athletics.

“Once that was discovered, everything else was moot,” Southern Section Commissioner Stan Thomas said.

The appeal was postponed to allow Simi Valley officials time to review the documents that accompanied Cabezas from Ecuador before this school year. According to Fred Ward, Cabezas’ uncle with whom Cabezas lives, there was an oversight in the interpretation of the student’s records.

“It really caught us off guard because we had no idea,” Ward said. “We honestly believe that if it hadn’t come up, he would have been granted eligibility. But if he has used up his eight semesters of eligibility, then I’m not sure we have any place to go with it.”

But there still is a chance for Cabezas, a 6-foot-2 forward whom Coach Dean Bradshaw said would start for the Pioneers.

“If Simi Valley officials can produce something to dispute what the kid admitted Wednesday, then we’ll continue the hearing,” Thomas said.