Stanford Diving Coach May Have Violated Rules

SAN DIEGO — Stanford diving Coach Rick Schavone may have violated National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules in the way he conducted practice sessions involving high school athletes, according to a Pacific 10 Conference official.

One of those divers is Kristen Walls, a junior at Monte Vista High School in San Diego.

“In talking with the university, there seems to be some conflicting stories,” said Duane Lindberg, assistant to Thomas Hansen, Pac-10 commissioner. “We’re going to wait for their response.”

The NCAA prohibits high school athletes from participating in college practice sessions.

Walls, who hopes to attend Stanford on an athletic scholarship, said she, sophomore Vanessa Bergman of Pinewood School in Los Altos and at least one other high school diver practiced with four Stanford divers in December and again in March. The three high school divers and about 25 others, ages 10-25, compete for Schavone’s Stanford Diving Team, an age-group club that is separate from Schavone’s college team.

“As you bring it to my attention, there may have been times when (high school and college divers’ workouts) would overlap, and yeah, that is a violation,” Schavone said. “I don’t want her to work out alone, so I may bring in a (college) kid to get her through the workout.

“She may have trained with one or two. . . . There can be some overlapping. We don’t allow it to be blatant, you know what I mean.”