Repercussions of lost season felt throughout spring season

Three-hundred and fortyseven days ago, the Ohio high school sports world stopped on its axis.

On April 21, 2020 the Ohio High School Athletic Association officially canceled the 2020 spring sports season, ripping area athletic officials, coaches and athletes out of the state of purgatory they had been existing in since the season was postponed on March 12, 2020.

Nearly a year later, area athletic programs are beginning to truly feel the repercussions from last year’s lost season.

At first glance, it appeared as if last year’s spring seniors would be the athletes most impacted by the lost season. For almost all of last spring, my colleagues and I have tried to tell the stories of athletes who had lost their final chance at competition.

Whether it was a track and field runners who lost their final tune-up year before collegiate competition or entire teams that lost their chance at a state championship, each story was seemingly more heartbreaking than the last.

But now, as we’re beginning to find out now as spring sports competition gets underway, last year’s spring sports underclassmen have been impacted just as much by the lost season, if not more.

As of now, there’s no better example of this impact than last weekend’s John Sanders track and field meet hosted by Olmsted Falls. While there wasn’t a team score taken, Midview’s track and field team put together an impressive performance, recording seven individual winners along with record-setting team wins in the girls 4x1 and 4x2 relays. Those wins are all that more impressive considering that Midview coach Kevin Radigan (literally) had no clue what to expect from his team going in.

“Close to 70% of our team had never been in a track meet before and everyone still look very prepared and focused,” Radigan said.

Radigan isn’t the only coach going through this. With no season (and very few practices last season), most area coaches feel as if they have two sets of freshman classes.

“Normally you don’t know the freshman very well, but you know everyone else,” North Ridgeville track and field coach James Shurtleff told me last month. “This year it feels like there’s half the team I don’t know.”

This phenomenon isn’t limited to track and field either.

“There’s no doubting we have two different freshman classes, Keystone softball coach Jim Piazza said after his team’s season-opener against Amherst. “Not only that but last year’s juniors lost their chance to shine.”

With no-contact orders in place throughout most of last spring, that gap only grew. Sure, they were removed towards the beginning of the summer, but by then most athletes had already begun to prepare and practice for fall sports.

Last May, former Elyria softball coach Ken Fenik told The Morning Journal that he thought the lost year would impact athletes who were on the cusp of moving up from junior varsity to varsity. Ten months later, his predication is looking spot on.

“There’s going to be a huge hit next year without these kids getting that experience and coaching they need,” Fenik said last May.

Luckily for coaches, the weather has (mostly) cooperated this spring. Sans this week’s snap snowstorm that wiped out all competition April 1, teams have been able to comfortably hold practice outside, something that not only helps them in coronavirus protocols, but also helps their younger athletes get time on a diamond or track.

“The weather over these past couple months has helped us tremendously because we’ve been able to go out and work on cuts and relays,” Pizza said. “Mother nature’s been on our side so far.”

All this makes upperclassman leader and compatibility all that more important. While Radigan was quick to credit the Middies’ relay wins to practice, he also credited the win to their background together.

“Of all the teams out there, they were the only team that had ran relays together,” Radigan said.

How all this inexperience will play out has yet to be determined. Every year numerous teams have underclassmen step up for them as the season goes on. While it’s safe to assume that will happen again this season, no one really knows to what extent it’ll happen. Maybe the lack of experience will level the playing field for everyone. Or maybe it’ll do the exact opposite, allowing the more experienced athletes to dominate over underclassmen caught behind the learning curve.

But no matter what happens, everyone will be happy to be back competing.

“I’m glad it’s here,” Shurtleff said of the track and field season. “We’re happy to be back.”