Suspended wrestler asks court to let him compete in state finals
By Adam Kovac Daily Herald Staff Writer<\/p>\n
A wrestler at Burlington Central High School was treated at a hospital last week after his fellow teammates “physically and sexually “assaulted him before practice, school officials said in court documents.<\/p>\n
Authorities say they are investigating the Feb. 7 attack, which resulted in suspensions for several wrestlers, including one seeking to compete in Friday’s state Class A wrestling championship in Champaign.<\/p>\n
None of the wrestlers has been charged with a crime. However, investigators have not yet completed an investigation of the allegations, Kane County State’s Attorney John Barsanti said.<\/p>\n
The attack was outlined in court papers filed Tuesday by school officials trying to enforce a suspension levied Monday that bars junior wrestler Rick Leos from school and athletic events. School officials booted him from the team and from school for four days.<\/p>\n
A hearing before Judge Michael Colwell is set for today to determine if Leos can travel downstate to compete.<\/p>\n
Leos attorney Richard Balog acknowledges there was “some horseplay “among wrestling team members but said Leos should have been given a hearing prior to his suspension.<\/p>\n
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, “he said of the state tournament. “Once (it) is gone this year, it’s gone forever.”<\/p>\n
Officials at Central Unit District 301 downplayed the attack but maintain several wrestlers violated school policy against fighting.<\/p>\n
In court documents, Burlington Central Principal David Oleson said Leos and other wrestlers acknowledged holding a teammate down while others punched him.<\/p>\n
A letter sent to parents Thursday explaining the punishment said the student was “physically and sexually assaulted, “the documents show.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know if it’s hazing, “said Daniel Purdom, an attorney for the school district. “But clearly, when four or five kids are holding a student down and punching him, it’s bullying.”<\/p>\n
Oleson and Burlington Central Athletic Director Dan Cliffe declined to comment.<\/p>\n
Leos and another wrestler obtained a court order allowing them to compete in last weekend’s sectional tournament, Balog said. Only Leos advanced to the state tournament.<\/p>\n
That set up today’s hearing, where Leos will argue he should have been given a hearing before he was suspended.<\/p>\n
Purdom, however, said participating in sports is a privilege granted to students who follow the rules as outlined in a document that students – including Leos – signed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suspended wrestler asks court to let him compete in state finals By Adam Kovac Daily Herald Staff Writer A wrestler at Burlington Central High School was treated at a hospital last week after his fellow teammates “physically and sexually “assaulted him before practice, school officials said in court documents. Authorities say they are investigating the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-8X","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}