Cross country, girls swim and dive and girls tennis to start Aug. 17

The Minnesota State High School League had a tough decision to make at its meeting Aug. 4… The fate of fall sports amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

After MSHSL’s long winded three-hour discussion on each fall sport, it was decided that football and volleyball move to the spring and cross country, girls swimming and diving and girls tennis will begin practice as scheduled on Aug. 17. Soccer, which is not a sport offered in any Stevens County school districts, can also begin on Aug. 17.

“The biggest thing is they didn’t cancel any activities,” Morris Area athletic director Mark Ekren said in a phone interview with the Stevens County Times.

Hancock’s athletic director Chad Christianson mirrored that same sentiment.

“As of right now, this year’s seniors get their full opportunity to play all their high school sports whereas last year’s group didn’t get that opportunity when their spring season got cancelled. I know a lot of people want to talk about the negative stuff, but the big positive is everything still on,” Christianson said.

Read the full story in the SCT e-edition.