Recruiting violations caught up with Chief Sealth High School last week when the school's back-to-back state basketball championships were taken away by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.

The statewide association announced the record books also will indicate the Lady Hawks forfeit every game they've played over the past four years. That includes all regular season, playoff and tournament contests from 2002 to 2006.

Sealth also took a hard slap from SeaKing District 2, the league of public and private schools among which Sealth is a member. SeaKing District officials wanted to bar Sealth from the 2007 tournament. However that recommendation was overruled by the state Interscholastic Activities Association, which decided to allow Chief Sealth to compete during the coming basketball season.

The strong rebuke probably will have little impact on private fund-raising for Chief Sealth High School. That's because there haven't been any basketball-related donations during the Lady Hawks two-year championship reign anyway.

An organization of alumni and parents called Friends of Sealth raises money to support "academics, athletics, arts, alumni and activities" at the school. The group raises money by collecting $25 membership dues. There are also occasional donations from individuals and corporations.

Last year, the Friends helped pay for championship rings for the Lady Hawks' victorious basketball players.

However, Friends of Sealth received no financial contributions during the past two years from people saying they were motivated to give because of Chief Sealth's successful girls basketball team, said Gale Kroll, treasurer.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association plans, supervises and administers interschool competition in athletics as well as cheerleading and dance drill. It also runs high school debate, music and theater competitions throughout the state.

The Interscholastic Activities Association holds up a Coaching Code of Ethics. Among its precepts are these: "A coach shall not seek an advantage by circumvention of the spirit or letter of the rules;" and "...(A coach) shall never place the value of winning above the value of instilling the highest ideals of character."

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association found evidence that some Sealth players were recruited from outside Seattle. All team members are supposed to live in the area served by the public school they play for.

Chief Sealth's illegal recruitment efforts were "multiple...intentional and egregious," the association stated in a news release last week.

Seattle Public Schools had already put the Sealth girls' basketball program on two-year probation last spring, said Patti Spencer, school district spokeswoman. The program will be closely monitored to make sure the school has no more recruiting difficulties, she said. If there are additional violations, more sanctions could be placed on the school.

Precisely how recruitment will be monitored has not been determined because the school district hasn't received the final report about Sealth from the Interscholastic Activities Association, Spencer said.

Currently Seattle Public Schools keeps track of required physical examinations for athletes as well as their academic records to make sure they qualify to compete. The district aims to set up a more rigorous, better-documented system for determining athletes' eligibility regarding residency, Spencer said. One change will be computers programmed to watch for athlete addresses from outside the Seattle city limits, she said.

Superintendent Raj Manhas also directed special training about recruitment rules for Chief Sealth's principal, athletic director and coaches, Spencer said.

Meanwhile the contracts for coach Ray Willis and assistants Laura Fuller and Amos Walters were terminated.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.