DAN McCOOL
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
A Virginia judge’s decision this week to dismiss a lawsuit against Virginia Tech filed by five wrestlers who are now practicing with Iowa drew an angry response from one of the athletes’ fathers today.
Three former Iowa high school standouts ” Daniel LeClere, Jay Borschel and Joey Slaton ” and two other wrestlers were redshirt freshmen for Virginia Tech and coach Tom Brands last season.
Brands accepted the Hawkeyes’ position in April, and the five wrestlers followed him to Iowa with the hopes of competing this season.
Virginia Tech, though, decided to not grant scholarship releases until after the 2006-07 season, meaning the athletes can only compete in open tournaments this season.
LeClere alleged that Virginia Tech officials said they have an open release policy for one-time transfers, which would not affect a wrestler’s eligibility.
“I’d like to get (Virginia Tech athletic director Jim) Weaver on the mat for about 30 seconds,” said Doug LeClere, Daniel LeClere’s father.
When asked if he wanted his feeling made public, LeClere said, “Yeah, I don’t care.”
John Robertson, a Blacksburg, Va., attorney who filed the lawsuit, was unavailable for comment today.
The lawsuit can be refiled because it was thrown out on a technicality, LeClere said. The families are debating whether to file an immediate appeal or attempt to refile a lawsuit in January.
“This hasn’t gone away,” LeClere said. “If we’re found in our favor by the court in January, they are going to have a lot of explaining to do and it’s probably going to cost them some money. They give you no choice, they’re taking the kids’ year of eligibility away and that can’t be brought back for anything.”
“We think there were some other things that probably went on during that whole thing that somehow stiffened their upper lip,” LeClere said.
The other two wrestlers are Brent Metcalf of Davison, Mich., and T.H. Leet of Atlanta, Ga. Daniel LeClere of North Linn and Linn-Mar of Marion’s Borschel were four-time state champs, while Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Slaton won two titles.
Slaton, LeClere, Borschel and Leet, are scheduled to compete in Iowa’s intrasquad matches Friday and Saturday.
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