Titan Gymnast Is Ineligible : Loss of Robell Hurts Team’s Chances in NCAAs

Cal State Fullerton gymnast Christi Robell was declared ineligible because of transfer violations Thursday on the eve of the NCAA championships at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

Robell, a sophomore transfer from Washington, has been one of the Titans’ top beam and floor exercise competitors this year. All of her scores this season have been discounted and, as a result, Fullerton has been dropped from the fifth seed to the seventh in the NCAA tournament.

Ten teams will compete for the national title today and Saturday at Utah’s Special Events Center.

The loss of Robell drops Fullerton into the afternoon sessions and most likely will mean an end to the Titan women’s nine-year streak of finishing in the top three nationally. (Scores are usually considerably higher in the evening sessions when the top-ranked teams compete, and teams in the bottom five rarely break into the top three).

Robell was competing under a new NCAA by-law enacted Aug. 15, 1984, that allows an athlete to compete without sitting out a year if certain conditions are met. One of the conditions is that the athlete must be released before being offered any financial aid for the year.

Fullerton officials received a letter of release from the University of Washington athletic department last fall and believed Robell was then eligible. On March 25, the NCAA informed Fullerton’s acting athletic director, Leanne Grotke, that it had received an anonymous letter questioning Robell’s eligibility and that they planned to investigate.

On Monday, NCAA officials again talked to Grotke, and, according to a Fullerton news release Thursday, Fullerton officials conducted further investigations and discovered Wednesday evening that Robell had been offered a scholarship to Washington for the 1984-85 school year.

Grotke, who was en route to Salt Lake City, and Washington athletic director Mike Lude, who was in Phoenix for Pacific 10 Conference meetings, were unavailable for comment Thursday.

“The whole thing revolves around whether they (Washington athletic department officials) canceled her aid or whether they canceled it, then re-offered it and canceled it again,” said Lynn Rogers, Fullerton’s women’s gymnastics coach, from his hotel room in Salt Lake City. “We don’t know what happened up there. All we know is that we have a letter from them saying they released her without aid and the NCAA has a copy. Evidently, the NCAA contacted them this week and they changed their story.”

The NCAA reportedly is also concerned about remarks Robell had made when she originally contacted them to find out the specific rules regarding her transfer. Robell, still in Salt Lake City with the Titans, declined comment.

“The sad part is the kid has done nothing wrong,” Rogers said. “All she’s done is what the athletic directors at two schools and her attorney have told her to do.

“I guess the NCAA is just doing its job. They looked into it and didn’t like what they found. But it certainly seems insensitive. She can’t even go on the floor with her teammates, and she has to buy her own tickets to see the competition.”

Rogers admits that the chances of the Titans finishing in the top three are now “certainly diminished,” but he says the team is more together than ever.

“Give a Marine a gun and a cause and he’ll shoot somebody,” Rogers said. “These kids are tougher than we sometimes give them credit for. Who knows what might happen?”