Tammy Light, University of Maine’s assistant athletic director for compliance, reports she is still working on the university’s response to the official letter of inquiry received March 20 from the NCAA Committee on Infractions.

It must be filed by April 24 and should be ready in a week or so, she said.

The letter informed the university that the NCAA intends to investigate its athletic program and deemed the violations to be of a “major” nature. It presents a list of questions to which the university must respond in writing.

Those questions involve information already contained in the university self-report prepared by the Kansas law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King, but in a different format. That report, released in December, detailed numerous violations of NCAA rules, most of them involving the UMaine hockey program.

The NCAA offers schools the option of using its summary disposition procedure. It allows schools to accept the NCAA’s findings on an infractions case without further hearings. UMaine, because of the complexity and scope of its case, has chosen not to go that route.

“We’re going to go before the Committee on Infractions, where we’ll have a better chance to sell our compliance system,” Light said. “We’ll be able to address what we’ve done to stop the violations from happening in the future.”

Light said once UMaine’s response is submitted, the university and the NCAA will engage in a bargaining process to work out the details of the case leading up to the June 1-3 hearing, when the Committee on Infractions is expected to consider the case.

“That’s where our law firm [Bond, Schoeneck 7 king] in Kansas City comes in,” Light said. “The work that they do best is yet to be done. They have experience in dealing with hearings and the [infractions] committee.’

In maintaining an open dialogue between Orono and Overland Park, Kan., UMaine has a better chance to state its case.

“We’ve put a lot of time and energy into [upgrading compliance] and we’d like to get some credit for it,” Light said.

Light explained that one area the university is prepared to defend its position is in regard to the self-imposed sanctions announced in December. The penalties included a one-year suspension of head hockey coach Shawn Walsh, banning the hockey team from the NCAA Tournament last season, a two-year reduction in hockey scholarships, and limiting the recruiting activity of assistant coaches Greg Cronin and Grant Standbrook.

“We went and researched how the Committee on Infractions has dealt with situations similar to ours and what penalties have been given our for similar vioalations,” Light said. “We’re going to argue that that’s enough. We feel the penalties were severe, and they hurt, and that we’re going to go on from there.”

Jill Scott, a graduate of Narraguagus High School in Harrington, turned in a strong peformance Saturday as a member of the track team at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

Scott, a junior, placed second in the 3,000 meters with a time of 11 minutes, 48.58 seconds and took fourth in the 5,000 meters in 20:09.00 in a 13-team meet. Sacred Heart finished second behind Wheaton College.