Spring Sports Season Scrapped

Decision Leaves Many Disappointed, But It Had To Be Made

Seth Herrold
@HerroldTimes
I knew this moment was coming. For a while now, it has felt like the spring high school sports season was not going to happen. With each passing day, more cases of COVID-19 were reported. With each increasing number, it became less and less likely that any spring sporting event would be played.
We have gotten to the point now where you might want to start looking at high school football. There are reports out there that claim we might be without sports until a vaccine is available in widespread quantities at some point in 2021. Whether or not we have football in the fall – or any other sport for that matter – is anyone’s guess and no one’s guess will be worth very much until we get to August and you can more accurately judge this situation.
One thing is certain, though: we will not have high school spring sports in 2020.
On Thursday, Missouri Gov. Mike Parson officially closed all schools statewide through the end of the 2019-2020 school year. That forced Missouri State High School Activities Associations’s hand and the organization followed shortly with its announcement that all spring sports championships would be cancelled.
That is unfortunate for a lot of people.
MSHSAA had no choice but to cancel the spring sports championships in light of the governor’s move. It was hands down the right thing to do. Like I said, I don’t think spring sports would have occurred anyway, even without the mandatory school closings. Even so, I’m sure there are people out there who were quick to put down MSHSAA for not giving student athletes an unbelieveable experience. I have been to enough state track meets to tell you it is just that – an unbelieveable experience – but if MSHSAA had tried to put on these championship events, the backlash would have been tenfold. There is no sane logic to think the risk each athlete would have been taking would have been worth the payoff.
The city of Jefferson City, meanwhile, is missing out on hosting the state track and field meets for the second year in a row. Last year, a tornado that hit the city moved the Class 3, 4 and 5 meets to other communities across the state. The state capital will now miss out on hosting those events for the second year in a row. As far as lost revenue goes, there are much bigger problems created by this pandemic for the city. The state track meet equates to a weekend of full hotel rooms, crowded restaurants and high school kids perusing the mall. It adds up and it’s now two years in a row that Jefferson City will lose those funds.
The biggest blow of all, though, befalls the high school seniors, who are missing out on one final sports season. Some of them will move on in their respective sports and get to play again at the college level. The majority, however, will not.
At Trenton, Gabe Swann was chasing school records on the tennis courts. The girls 4×400-meter relay team of Lexi Whitaker, McKayla Blackburn, Lexi Gott and Kristi Ewing broke the school record in the event at the state track meet last year and all four were returning this season for another shot. Jaren Whitney, Sam Schilling and Jerrick Stotts were going to become the first four-year letterwinners in the Trenton baseball program.
I heard UMKC Director of Athletics Brandon Martin on sports radio on Thursday as he was talking about how the women’s basketball team qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time this year. That tournament was obviously cancelled and the senior players on that team were robbed of an opportunity of a lifetime. While acknowledging the disappointment, Martin pointed out athletics are supposed to prepare students for the real world and the real world isn’t always fair. Maybe, in some small way, somewhere down the road, losing this spring sports season will help one or more of these seniors in a real life event. If so, that is one of the few silver linings this pandemic has delved out.
The situation still hurts, though, and there isn’t a whole lot that can be done about that. But, as Sam Mellinger wrote in his column for the Kansas City Star on Thursday, “we can honor the coaches and the athletes involved. We can tell their stories, share their perspectives and appreciate their journeys.”
I have a platform here to do just that. Now that MSHSAA has officially called off the spring sports season we are planning a tribute page in this paper for the senior athletes who lost their final seasons. In the coming weeks I will be telling as many of these athletes’ stories as I can in the way I shared the experiences of Trenton alums Salem Croy, Taylor Richman and Sidney Lynch, who had their college softball careers cut short by this pandemic. It’s not a story about an athlete breaking a record or chasing a state medal, but it will give them something. They deserve more than that, but it is all we can give.
This week’s recommendations are…
Read: The Last Night Of The Yankee Dynasty by Buster Olney. Another baseball book, but I really need baseball in my life right now. This book is another one written by a baseball writer in Olney and a great read. Some of the behind the scenes stories about this team are… well, you just have to read it.
Watch: The Last Dance on ESPN. The 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls’ road to their sixth championship starts this Sunday. I have been waiting to put this in the ‘watch’ section of this column for three weeks and we are finally to the week of the premier. When it is all said and done, there are 20 hours to this documentary and I am here for them all. Part one airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Eat: Taco Tuesday! It is Tuesday, so I suggest getting some tacos from El Nopal via their drive thru. Did you know they do margaritas and beers to go as well? I would recommend a Pacifico to go with your tacos.