CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Cross-country runners from Chicago public high schools will get to compete Saturday in state sectional meets, after a Cook County judge overruled the Illinois High School Association.
CPS cross country runners couldn’t compete in the state regional meets because of the teachers’ strike, and the IHSA said therefore they could not run in the next round of sectional meets.
Ian Bacon, a senior and runner at Jones College Prep, was among the students who asked Associate Judge Neil Cohen to issue an order allowing them to run in the sectional meets.
Bacon said the runners went to court because they felt the IHSA decision to bar them from the sectional meets was unfair.
Judge Cohen on Friday agreed, saying the IHSA rule that would have barred CPS cross-country runners from competing in the sectional meets was too ambiguous.
Cohen also noted the IHSA gave strike-related exemptions to CPS high school football and volleyball teams. He said it was only fair to allow the cross-country runners to compete in the sectional meets.