By Desiree M. Cooper and J.T. Keith
Eastern New Mexico University is awaiting the decision of the NCAA, and athletes are taking notice.
Each athlete has a unique view of the issue, especially when it comes with the possibility of having wins and titles taken away.
“I thought it was a joke. I was like ‘No way can you make wins disappear,’” former baseball catcher Dillon Downs said. “How can you make those games never happen? Now that I have heard what is going on, it is becoming ridiculous.”
Dillon said that he would feel a void if his statistics were wiped away.
“I feel like it would diminish the milestone that I accomplished the two years I was there,” he said. “It is a touchy subject not just for me, but a lot of athletes whom this would affect. It’s like our lives at Eastern never happened. How does that happen? The student-athlete should not have to suffer.”
Former basketball player Hannah Altheide also doesn’t feel that it’s fair to punish athletes for the missteps of others.
“In the league or NCAA, we were just trying to be athletes, and we are pretty much getting punished for it,” she said. “We were ignorant, and we thought we were obeying the rules, and it’s hard for someone to take wins from you when you had no idea you were doing anything wrong.”
Cross-country star Isaiah Samoei has worked hard for his athletic accomplishments and is not ready to give them up. Samoei, who was born in Kenya, started running in 2002. He moved to the United States in 2009 to attend Iowa Western Community College. In 2011, he was recruited to ENMU.
The 24-year-old was the first Greyhound to finish in first place at the Lone Star Conference championship. He holds the ENMU record of 24:25 in the 8k and placed at the NCAA Division II National Championship. He also was voted the Lone Star Conference Newcomer of the Year and Greatest Greyhound.
Samoei is frustrated by the violations because of the hard work he has put into his athletic career.
“I wake up at 5:45 a.m. for 6 a.m. workouts. You have 95-110 miles a week to run,” he said. “Why should my titles be taken away? It would not be good to me. I put effort into it. [My athletic career] is important to me because I worked for it since 2002. It is not only for me and my family, but also for my school.”
Somoei says he would still claim his titles even if they were taken away.
“I knew I won,” he said. “I knew I was eligible.”
Men’s basketball player Rodney Blackmon has played 27 games for ENMU. He said it would bother him if those games counted for nothing.
“It would be devastating,” he said. “We’ve won some tough games. It’d be wrong to take them away from us. I feel like I won them; they already happened.”
The sentiment heard from current and past athletes was that they are disappointed and angry. Former track and field star J.J. McCoy placed the blame on the university.
“The situation stinks, and the way they have handled it really upset me,” he said. “No one knew anything, and they left a lot of athletes hanging.”