(The Center Square) – Baraboo High softball player Macy Weigel will be allowed to compete in softball for the school after a Sauk County Circuit judge granted a temporary injunction blocking the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association’s ruling that Weigel was ineligible.
Weigel had attended Community Christian School, which does not offer athletics, for her first two years of high school before transferring to Baraboo, the district where her family has resided.
The Weigels say the transfer was necessary due to financial constraints after Weigel’s younger sibling was diagnosed with a deadly and rare blood condition and her mother left her career as a full-time teacher to care for the sibling.
“I am excited for my daughter to get on the field with her friends and enjoy her junior year playing softball,” said Emily Weigel, Macy’s mother. “She is so grateful for this opportunity.”
The WIAA had ruled that Weigel would be ineligible to compete in athletics during her junior year, after Weigel had applied for a waiver, leading to a lawsuit from the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty on behalf of Weigel.
Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Screnock ruled that Weigel was likely to succeed on the merits of her case and granted a temporary injunction to allow her to compete.
“The record reflects that the WIAA administrative staff considered rule mitigation in its initial denial and concluded that approving the Baraboo School District’s waiver request ‘would open the door to any transfer becoming allowed,’ Screnock wrote in his ruling. “That is patently absurd.”
Macy has competed in a recreational softball league previously, making her ineligible for an automatic waiver for those who have not competed in a sports before.
The lawsuit challenged WIAA’s authority to exercise authority over public schools in the state because there is no statute or constitutional provision giving that authority to the WIAA over the state’s public schools, which are all WIAA members and make up 80% of WIAA membership.
“The WIAA made an arbitrary decision to exclude a student athlete from a school-sponsored and taxpayer-funded co-curricular activity,” said WILL Associate Counsel Skylar Croy. “Today, that injustice has been rectified for now.”
