DaytonDailyNews.com

Declared ineligible this week to continue his track season by the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Michael Shaw and his family went to court.

On Friday, May 16, a Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge issued a temporary restraining order stopping the OHSAA from ruling the Trotwood-Madison High School senior ineligible.

The restraining order allows Shaw to compete in Tuesday's first day of the Division I district track meet in Troy, the first step in qualifying for the June 6-7 state meet.

At issue is whether Shaw and his family established residency in Trotwood through falsified means. Shaw transferred from Alter High School to Trotwood-Madison midway through his junior year.

The ruling about Shaw violating Bylaw 4-7-2, Exception 1 regarding transfers and residency was confirmed Friday by OHSAA Assistant Commissioner Bob Goldring.

Shaw's residency issue stemmed from a months-old OHSAA investigation of Trotwood's 13 alleged misdeeds regarding transfers, residency and recruiting.

"We are scheduled for a full preliminary injunctive hearing to see whether or not he will be able to participate in the future," said Shaw's attorney, Aaron Durden, about a 9 a.m. Wednesday meeting with Judge Jeffrey Froelich. "We're grateful that he's been given this opportunity to at least prove that he and his family did nothing wrong and that he has an opportunity to compete."

At the hearing, Froelich will hear testimony and could decide whether to issue a preliminary injunction. Shaw hopes the hearing and subsequent legal maneuvers ultimately clear him to participate at the district meet.

"That's what I'm hoping and praying for, I just want it all to be over," Shaw said Friday night at the Greater Western Ohio Conference meet at Springboro. "I'm 18 years old. I just want to have fun and enjoy my senior year."

Shaw didn't compete Friday, although T-M coach John McKinney said he could have run.

"I hate that it's happening to me and just me and (during) the last four weeks of my senior year," Shaw said. "They couldn't do it before or after, but I just want it to all be over. It's ridiculous. Nobody else has to go through this but me."

Among the students involved in the 13 allegations, Shaw is the only Trotwood student participating in a spring sport. OHSAA Commissioner Dr. Dan Ross said the full investigation and decisions involving other students are not complete.

If the future Michigan football player runs Tuesday but is later declared ineligible, his performances and relays he participates in could be disqualified.

"These are tough situations with schools and kids and families," Ross said. "There's never any good timing for any of these."

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