Wrestler loses again in court

Hammond High wrestler Chris Williams lost another match in court Monday when Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Hilary Kaplan refused to issue an injunction that would have allowed Williams to wrestle this season.

In denying the request, the third by Williams, Kaplan said, "There was insufficient evidence to support an interlocutory injunction."

The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association, which governs high school sports, said that Williams had forfeited his eligibility for this season by competing in two all-star meets after last season, despite discovering only after those events that he would not graduate.

Maryland public school athletes are permitted four years of athletic eligibility, whether all varsity or combined with junior varsity. Williams, a fifth-year senior, did not wrestle as a junior because he was academically ineligible.

One all-star meet, said MPSSAA executive secretary Ned Sparks, was enough to make Williams ineligible. But Williams has contended that the meets should be overlooked because he had intended to graduate last June.