Pedelty Box: Even fall athletes who get to play making COVID-19 sacrifices

Allow me to be clear up front.

This is not a column bashing the Illinois High School Association [IHSA if you're into the whole brevity thing] for its handling of Illinois high school sports during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

I know that is a fashionable stance to take right now if social media is any indication of general sentiment, but it's not mine.

Could the IHSA have done a few things differently that I might have liked better? Of course. But by and large, I think it has done what it can to put forth and foster plans which give every sport its best chance to be played during the 2020-21 school year under the state's current COVID-19 guidelines.

Sometimes, though, those plans call for tough decisions.

And those tough decisions can lead to painful results.

There will be no state golf meets this weekend, which stinks because: 1) the state golf meets are fantastic events [even if there are too many classes for what is, at its core, an individual sport]; 2) The Times area had a number of linksmen and linkswomen who I believe could have made some noise down there.

The IHSA's scaling back of its postseason to reduce chances at spreading the coronavirus on a statewide level also made some pretty substantial cuts as to how many golfers had the opportunity to advance from regionals on to sectionals. When I write, "Instead of three teams and 10 individuals making the cut as in past years," it's Yawnsville, USA, I know.

However, when I write, "Here are the names of a dozen and a half student-athletes who had their seasons cut short by this change," that might get your attention.

Right off the bat, three additional entire boys teams would've advanced to sectionals with third-place team finishes: Streator, Seneca and Somonauk. Sans a pandemic, that would have sent to sectionals, in addition to those who already did advance as individuals:

Streator — Davey Rashid, Cooper Wahl, Christian Benning, Dane Winterrowd; Seneca — Noah Cade, Noah Quigley, Owen Quigley, Austin Marshall, Holden Flynn; Somonauk — Carter Andrews, Andrew Wernsman and Brock Zimmerman.

That's a dozen additional sectional qualifiers right off the clubface.

Now, after some work and headaches [as anyone who has ever attended an IHSA golf postseason event and tried to sort out who advances and who doesn't can attest], here are a number of what would have been individual sectional qualifiers from our area in a "normal" year in addition to the ones who did qualify:

Marquette's Grant Waldron out of the Grant Park 1A Regional would have gone down to Tuscola; Sandwich's Aidan Sullivan would've escaped the Kaneland 2A Regional; Ottawa's Zoe Harris and Caroline Cooney would have captured the final two qualifying spots out of the Minooka Class 2A Regional; while from the Sandwich 1A Regional, Seneca's Rylee Stenzel would've easily advanced, and Marquette's Kaitlyn Magoonaugh and Seneca's Laura Yegge would've taken part in a four-woman playoff for the final advancing slot.

I mention their names not just to give them a bit of well-earned ink for what, ultimately, was a sacrifice so the IHSA could carry on with its late-added sectional tournaments as safely as possible, but also to point out just how many locals were affected.

Next up, girls tennis and cross country participants will be asked to do the same.

Tennis, with no regional round, is simply eliminating its state tournament and concluding with sectionals. Cross country will be following golf's lead and reducing its sectional fields in addition to eliminating the state meet, cutting out two advancing teams from 1A regionals and one advancing team from every 2A and 3A regional, which will trickle down and cut out what would have been individual advancers as well.

"The reduction in teams was made for two reasons," IHSA Assistant Executive Director in charge of cross country Kraig Garber emailed when I asked about cross country's plans. "First, it keeps the number of flights per gender in each class at a manageable number for hosts; second, it makes it more manageable in terms of gathering limits."

It's a change I understand, even if it's one I wish the IHSA didn't feel it had to make.

No matter how I or you feel about it, however, here's to the kids making that sacrifice.