Hurdler Sues to Compete for Diablos

The family of David Frazeur Jr. has filed a lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court in an attempt to enable the hurdler to compete on the Mission Viejo High track and field team.

The suit seeks to force the California Interscholastic Federation to overturn Southern Section Commissioner James Staunton’s denial of a hardship transfer request. An appeal hearing has been scheduled for next week.

The suit filed Monday alleges that Frazeur was a witness in a criminal case that made him the object of “intimidating threats and harassment from the friends and family of the defendant” since his freshman year at Capistrano Valley. The suit said continued threats led Frazeur to seek psychiatric help; his psychologist recommended a transfer, which he did in January.

Staunton said the Capistrano Unified District offered Frazeur the chance to transfer to another district school. Instead, Frazeur, who was also a varsity quarterback at Capistrano Valley in the fall, chose Mission Viejo, a rival school.

“The family had expressed continued displeasure with the school,” Staunton said. “The district offered them a chance to move to a different school in the district. They chose not to . . . Does that constitute a need to grant immediate varsity eligibility when what they have appeared to do is exercise choice?”

Rob Wigod, an assistant commissioner to Staunton, said Thursday Frazeur transferred from Capistrano Valley to Mission Viejo without a valid change of address. Because the transfer did not take place within a prescribed open enrollment period, it precluded Frazeur, a junior, from participating in varsity sports at Mission Viejo for 12 months.

David Frazeur Sr. said Capistrano Valley administrators and Athletic Director Tom “White in particular [are] being vindictive in keeping my son from participating” in the current track season.