Cross country, slowpitch softball, boys golf, boys tennis get pushed to 2021
Now, all fall sports have taken the fall.
At least in the Class 4A and 3A Greater St. Helens Leagues.
Athletic directors voted this week to push all fall sports to winter/spring 2021.
Earlier this summer, the WIAA announced a tentative sports calendar calling for four seasons. Football, volleyball, girls soccer, and girls swimming, traditional fall sports, were already moved to Season 3, with competition to begin in March.
However, low-risk sports such as cross country, slowpitch softball, boys golf, and boys tennis remained on the schedule for Season 1, which could have started in September. The WIAA gave schools the option.
This week, the GSHL schools opted out of Season 1.
Boys golf and boys tennis will now begin in March, in Season 3. Slowpitch softball will join the other “fall” team sports — football, volleyball, and girls soccer — to Season 3.
“While league officials strongly believe in the growth that interscholastic education-based athletics provides and want to return student-athletes to the field as soon as possible, we also believe this decision is best for the health and safety of the student athletes, coaches, and communities,” said Rory Oster, athletic director from Camas and the president of the 4A/3A leagues.
The 2A Greater St. Helens League has not yet made a decision on the low-risk sports in Season 1. However, Paul Huddleston, the Woodland athletic director, told The Daily News in Longview that a Season 1 schedule did not look promising. Plus Mark Morris and R.A. Long, two teams in the 2A GSHL, have already announced no Season 1 sports.
If all this holds, there will be no sports competition until Season 2 of the WIAA schedule. Practice would start toward the end of December for traditional winter sports, including basketball and wrestling, with competition to begin in January.
