The New Hampshire Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Concord athlete against the state’s athletic supervisory organization, ruling that the former student lacked standing in the case and the court system lacked jurisdiction over the claims.

In 2022, a nationally ranked high school lacrosse player, Quinton Cepiel, sued the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association because he was barred from playing his senior season.

Cepiel attended Cardigan Mountain School until 2019 and finished ninth grade. He then moved on to St. Paul’s School in the fall of 2019.

After most sports, including NHIAA sports, were cancelled due to COVID in the spring of 2020, Cepiel transferred to Bishop Guertin in Nashua but suffered a season-ending injury before he had the opportunity to play in the spring of 2021.

After playing for BG in the spring of 2022, his father raised the issue of Quinton’s eligibility for his senior year at the school, according to court documents.

“BG explained that the NHIAA’s eight-semester rule included Quinton’s 9th grade year at CMS and that ‘neither COVID nor an injury are sufficient grounds for an appeal of the rule,’” according to court documents.

The Cepiels initially sued the NHIAA and BG, and later settled all claims against the school. However, the plaintiffs alleged that by not allowing Cepiel to play, the NHIAA was in violation of the State Constitution and the New Hampshire Administrative Procedures Act, the plaintiffs’ due process rights and the state’s antitrust law.

The Supreme Court noted that only the principal of a school, not a parent, can request an eligibility waiver from the NHIAA. In addition, the justices said the Cepiel family failed to establish how they were harmed by the decision. During the 2022-23 school year, Quinton attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts.

He went on to attend Villanova University.

This week, the New Hampshire Supreme Court remanded the case back to Superior Court with instructions that it be dismissed.