Medders’ Appeal Up in the Air

Oak Park senior basketball player Lyndsey Medders, who was ruled ineligible for the rest of the season by the Southern Section, has appealed to the California Interscholastic Federation state office, CIF spokesman Jim Duel said Friday.

Duel said that Executive Director Marie Ishida has not made a decision.

Last month, Medders, one of the top girls’ players in the Southland, was found to be in violation of section rules regarding transfers with dual residency. Medders attended North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake last school year before transferring to Oak Park.

-- Bob Rohwer

David Goosen, former Burbank boys’ basketball coach, said he intends to sue the Burbank Unified School District, which fired him last week following several incidents that occurred during a holiday tournament in Las Vegas.

Goosen said he was denied due process during a meeting to decide his fate and that officials had made up their minds to fire him without hearing his explanation.

Alexis Sheehy, assistant superintendent for instructional services with the district, declined to specify why Goosen was fired.

Goosen, who was in his first year as Bulldog coach, said he was told he used poor judgment in allowing a player to drive a school van part of the way home from Las Vegas after Goosen became ill. He said he also was told he should have reported his ejection from a game during the tournament to school officials.

Assistant Bob Kinzel will coach Burbank until the end of the season. Goosen has remained as a physical education teacher at the school.

-- Ben Bolch

The Southern Section has ruled that the Lake Forest El Toro girls’ soccer team will have to forfeit four victories, including three in South Coast League play, and one tie because a player took part in a club event during the high school season.

Coach Kevin Otsugi said El Toro plans to appeal. The player, whose name was not revealed, is a junior starter who played in two games during an invitational exhibition at the NCAA women’s soccer final four in Austin, Texas, in December.

With the forfeits, El Toro, No. 5 in The Times’ Southland rankings, falls from 8-5-2 overall and 4-1-1 in the league to 4-10-1 overall and 1-4-1. The Chargers fall from first to fifth in league.

“It’s just a hard one to swallow,” Otsugi said. “Is El Toro in first place in league just because of this particular player? Not at all. The kids, they’ve really battled for it, and they’re heartbroken. But as far as on the field, they’ve done their job.”

The ineligible player has sat out the Chargers’ last two games, a victory over Mission Viejo and a tie with Dana Point Dana Hills, but will also have to miss the team’s next two games as part of the penalty.

-- Lauren Peterson