By Alex Leichenger

Danilo Dragovic ’11 will not be able to play for the boys’ basketball team this season, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday morning. 

Judge Ann I. Jones opted not to overturn the CIF’s original decision from October that Dragovic is ineligible. The 6’5″ shooting guard was denied a hardship waiver by CIF because he played JV basketball for San Marcos High last year. He took his case to court after he was unsuccessful in a CIF appeal Nov. 29. 

Keith Gregory, Dragovic’s attorney, said that despite his ineligibility in basketball, Dragovic will be able to run varsity track in the spring. In the 20-30 minute hearing Tuesday morning, Gregory argued that the CIF was making an “arbitrary” ruling by denying Dragovic in basketball but allowing him to run track.

The CIF had determined that Dragovic’s transfer to Harvard-Westlake was athletically motivated by basketball, Gregory said, which violates the hardship waiver bylaw. But the CIF reasoned that Dragovic would not have enough of an impact on the track team to justify ruling him ineligible in that sport.

“I hope he just blows people away in any race he runs,” said Gregory, who called the Dragovic ruling one of the most saddening he has seen in 26 years of legal practice. “That would be fitting justice.”