Don Seeley
RED HILL — Upper Perkiomen High School’s wrestling team was taken down Wednesday .. with a move no one associated with the program could counter.
According to a press release from Timothy F. Kirby, superintendent of the district, a member of the Indians’ state and nationally ranked team this past season was found to be living illegally in the school district following an investigation that concluded Monday.
“Upon investigation of a routine student enrollment question, it was found that a member of our high school wrestling team had been illegally enrolled for the 2006-2007 wrestling season, “Kirby said in the statement, released to the media shortly after noon Wednesday. “Thus, our team wrestled with an ineligible wrestler all season.”
Neither Kirby nor anyone else from the administration identified the ineligible wrestler; however, head coach Tom Hontz, aware that many other sources had revealed the name, identified him as junior Anthony Uhrik.
Athletic Director Steve Perlstein said a representative of the school immediately contacted the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, the governing body of interscholastic sports in the state, as well as District One and the Pioneer Athletic Conference officials to notify them of the incident. As a result, Upper Perkiomen will be forced to forfeit all of its dual-meet victories the ineligible wrestler participated in.
It also means the Indians will forfeit their 10th straight PAC-10 title, their record fourth straight District 1-Class AAA Duals championship, and their fourth-place finish in the PIAA-Class AAA State Duals Tournament.
Upper Perkiomen will also be forced to surrender its Section Two, District 1-AAA North and Southeast Regional team titles because the ineligible wrestler participated in all three of the individual postseason tournaments.
Individual records and titles will not be affected by the incident.
“Our administration handled this like they would for any student in our district, “Perlstein explained. “Some questions about the residency came to light as a result of inquiries into the (Uhrik’s) student’s frequent tardiness or late arrivals (at school). After pursuing the information available, (administration) found that although the student was living in the district, he was doing so illegally.
“A request was made to the parent of the student in question to disprove the information obtained concerning the legitimacy of his residency status. Based on the information later obtained, it was confirmed (Uhrik) was indeed living in the district contrary to what was provided our administration at the time the individual registered to attend Upper Perkiomen.”
Sources told The Mercury on Wednesday that Uhrik was living in the district but not with his mother, who administrators were led to believe was leasing a residence for herself and her son. The student allegedly wasn’t living with a legal guardian, either.
A transfer student from Bensalem High School, where he was 25-9 a year ago, Uhrik wrestled at 152 and 160 pounds this past season. He was second at the Section Two Tournament, third at the District 1-AAA North Tournament, and a Southeast Regional qualifier before finishing with a 34-16 record.
“We learned of all this through a home and school investigation, “Perlstein explained. “And a student not living with a parent or court-appointed legal guardian makes (the residency) illegal.”
News of the incident quickly spread throughout the area, district and state on Wednesday.
“It is always our intent to abide by the rules of the PIAA and uphold the integrity of our school district, “Kirby added in his release. “Thus, once we knew for certain that this transgression had occurred, we immediately came forward to self-report to the appropriate authorities.”
Nonetheless, it may take some time for Hontz and his staff to bounce back from the turn of events.
“I did not know anything about this until after hearing about the inquiries being made, “Hontz said late Wednesday night. “I coach the team, and (administration) does the best it can in checking residency and eligibility.
“The school did its job. They investigated, and when they found we had an illegal athlete, they dealt with the issue, “the coach said.
Perlstein said it was indeed a difficult day for Hontz, who ironically had a scheduled District 1 Steering Committee meeting Wednesday night.
“I sat down with Tom and his two captains (state champion Zack Kemmerer and state medalist Chris Sheetz) on Wednesday afternoon, “Perlstein said. “I told them we took a hit and got knocked down. But the resolve of this team and this program is how we rebound from this, how we get back up and move on. The challenge is ahead of them. I told Tom to accept this as a challenge.
“The one thing we hope doesn’t happen is this incident detracting from the individual accomplishments here at Upper Perkiomen. They can strip us of our banners, our trophies and medals, our titles ..but they can’t take away what our kids did out there on the mats, “the athletic director said.
Hontz agreed.
“A mistake was revealed and we’re taking our medicine, “he said. “But losing 21 victories all in one day isn’t an easy pill to swallow.
“But our school did what was right. This incident won’t diminish what our kids did individually. But it definitely leaves a sour taste for the team.”
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