Long Beach State Suspends Coach, Seven Runners

Long Beach State has suspended Coach Andy Sythe and seven members of the combined men’s and women’s cross-country team for an incident stemming from a preseason initiation ritual involving alcohol, school athletic officials said Tuesday.

Sythe, six female athletes and one male will not be allowed to participate Saturday when the 49ers compete in an invitational at Cal Poly Pomona. With only three female runners eligible, the women will not have enough members to qualify for team scoring. Seven men remain eligible, enough to possibly gain points as a team. First-year assistant Gwendolyn Loud probably will coach the team Saturday.

“The athletic department only became aware of the initiation incident on Sept. 28,” Athletic Director Dave O’Brien said in a statement. “After conducting a thorough investigation, we believe this incident represents a very serious violation of university policies that cannot be tolerated.”

Sythe would not comment when reached at home.

The sanctions are the result of an incident in August involving current and former team members and alcoholic beverages at the team’s preseason training camp, conducted near Trinity Lake in Northern California, O’Brien said.

Sythe, in his sixth season as coach, didn’t participate in the incident and didn’t have knowledge of it when it occurred. However, he has been suspended for failing to report the matter to athletic department officials in a timely manner upon his being made aware of the incident, O’Brien said.