High school sports delayed

“We’re just going to keep kids engaged and give them an outlet”

[ by Than Acuff ]

As the school year approached back in August, a new high school sports schedule was announced to address the state of affairs with COVID. The set schedule appeared spot-on and provided what appeared to be an adequate balance of activities for students and COVID caution.

Well, now with the recent surge of COVID throughout the state, the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) announced on Monday, December 7 that they would be altering the schedule once again.

“It came to a head as the COVID levels in numerous counties increased significantly,” says Crested Butte/Gunnison High School athletics director Jarrod Hinton.

Hinton went on to explain that with so many counties in the Coronameter Red zone now, they have to limit numbers in a gymnasium or on the ice to 10 people total.

“They can’t have anything like basketball or hockey playing with numbers like that,” says Hinton.

As a result, “season B” sports such as boys and girls basketball, boys hockey, girls swim/diving and wrestling were slated to start following the holiday break on January 4. Now, all that has been pushed back, with practices starting on January 25 and competition opening on February 1.

The move will have a rippling effect on the rest of the sports seasons as well, as season C sports such as volleyball and boys soccer will not start until March 15 and finish May 8. Furthermore, the final season, season D, which includes girls soccer, boys lacrosse, track and field and baseball, was pushed back to May 3 and will conclude June 26.

While so many counties statewide are at the Red level, Gunnison County has bucked the trend statewide and remains in the Blue. Therefore, while schools in counties that are currently Red must halt all activities for the most part, Crested Butte and Gunnison High Schools can continue to practice.

“We’re in a place where we are one of the best in the state,” says Hinton. “We can still hold workouts because of where our county is right now and that could give us a leg up, I suspect. Our county has been doing great and we should be proud of that as a county and a school district. We’re just going to keep kids engaged and give our kids an outlet.”