Lakewood applauds Starks’ victory

lakewood » Of the many interested parties following Nathan Starks’ battle against the Colorado High School Activities Association, a group of football players at Lakewood was among the most attuned.

Starks, a Cherry Creek running back, won his eligibility last week when an arbitrator granted his request to play after he transferred from Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas.

Lakewood coach Mark Robinson couldn’t have been more proud. His team includes five players who transferred a year ago from Mullen, where therewas fallout fromthe Dave Logan firing at the end of the 2011 season. Two of those players were granted eligibility— one because of hardship— but three others were ordered to sit out their junior season.

And they were among the first to jump for joy when Starks won his case.

“Isn’t that amazing?” Robinson said. “It gave me a lot of faith in kids. Our principal (Ron Castagna) and I were like, ‘This is not what we expected.’ ”

Anthony Brown, Casey Nichols and Connor Stone, all of whom had to sit out last season, chose class and dignity above animosity and envy when asked for their reactions to Starks becoming eligible to play. The seniors, Nichols and Stone, were ecstatic.

“Absolutely,” Nichols, a quarterback, said of Starks. “He deserved to play. It’s a game, you’re supposed to have these privileges. I think it’s what we deserved last year. ... There’s no reason to hold something against him; it was out of his control.”

Said Stone, a linebacker and fullback: “Iam so glad. This is high school football, not the pros. Iwas shocked in a very happy way that he got his eligibility back because every kid should have a chance to play.

“I’m disappointed not in Nathan or anyone else, but disappointed that they couldn’t give us the same opportunity he got.”

Starks, whowas accused of breaking school rules while in Nevada, pursued eligibility after going through appeals before finally winning in arbitration.

Robinson said his players opted to transfer to Lakewood, went through appeals, then were told by a judge in Arapahoe County that he “couldn’t tell (the) CHSAA what to do. And it’s nothing the kids did.”

Stone, a starter on the 2011 Mullen team that made it to the state quarterfinals, said he simply “wanted to leave Mullen. ... I got to grow more here.”

Nichols called sitting out his junior season “awful.” He said he tried to support his teammates by breaking down film, but recording plays isn’t nearly as satisfying as making plays.

Ultimately, he said, Starks’ case might help other players. “Maybe (this) will start a precedent. And with what we went through, it wasn’t exactly a fun situation.”

Stone added that “what’s most baffling is there should have been a precedent set with our case and sent to the entire CHSAA community. I’m so happy (Starks) got to play. For us, it was the stupidest thing ever. I really can’t relate to that.”

Said Robinson: “Our kids had exactly the reaction we wanted.”