By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
Spring high school sports schedules might as well be written in pencil.
Cancellations and postponements are expected, especially early in the season. By the end of the season, the spring schedule is a scribble of red X’s and lines, where dates were crossed out and events rescheduled.
Southeast Wisconsin is – allegedly – coming out of one of its more brutal winters in recent years. If all goes well, our winter woes should not cause too many issues for the spring high school sports season.
“This scenario is something that isn’t unfamiliar to the membership, and we will address it if need be,” said Todd Clark, Director of Communications for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, Wisconsin’s governing body for high school athletics. “Two weeks of nice weather and ideal drying conditions, (and) everything may be on track.”
As crazy as it might sound – look out the window right now and you will likely still see snow – the spring high school sports season is underway.
The Elkhorn Area High School boys’ and girls’ track teams compete Friday in an invitational at West Allis Central High School.
Baseball, girls soccer and softball start formal practices on March 24. Boys golf and boys tennis start practicing on March 31.
The Elkhorn Rugby Football Club, a club team comprised of local high school players, is waiting to finalize its schedule due to weather issues, according to club official Jeff Gahart.
Elkhorn Area High School Athletic Secretary Laura Humphreys said in an e-mail that the Elks are not expecting any issues with their spring sports schedule.
“Nothing yet … just day by day,” Humphreys said.
Burlington Athletic Director Eric Plitzuweit echoed Humphreys’ sentiments and said the Southern Lakes Conference is aware of the potential for issues. The Elks and Demons compete in the SLC.
“It is a concern that we have; however, there is not too much we can do at this point other than hope for warmer weather and some wind to dry our fields,” Plitzuweit said. “As a conference, we have had some early discussions as to how we reschedule our games, specifically the importance of rescheduling conference games over non-conference games.”
Plitzuweit also said the WIAA is aware of the potential for weather issues related to spring athletics.
“The WIAA is cognizant of the weather impact on the spring season across the state,” Plitzuweit said. “I would expect, similar to last year, that the WIAA will release a statement addressing weather, rescheduled events, and its impact on the regular season and the WIAA tournament series.”
The enemy of spring athletics right now is rain, for numerous reasons.
“Any rainfall we get in the next few weeks, plus the melting snow, will be not able to soak into a frozen ground, and will run off into rivers, causing rivers and nearby lowland areas to possibly flood,” said Sarah Marquardt, a Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan.
Marquardt said the snow pack is deep, as is the frost depth. Without a thaw, new water might not run-off as expected, which increases the possibility of flooding.
Using a major local river as an example, Marquardt said there is a 60-percent chance of the Fox River in Burlington reaching the flood stage, which is up from its normal chance of 25 percent.
“The greatest threat for flooding is in late March to early April,” Marquardt said.
Marquardt also said to expect temperatures to be chillier than usual this spring.
“Longer range climate models indicate there is an increased chance for below normal temperatures for the spring season,” Marquardt said. “However, it is too difficult to pinpoint what temperatures will be this far out, so it’s hard to say what the impacts would be.”
Clark said the WIAA will respond if the situation merits.
“There has been some consideration and relief in the past when spring weather has impacted the seasons, but it’s too early to tell what impact the weather will have this season,” Clark said.
Last spring the WIAA approved temporary scheduling relief, according to Clark, for spring sports and scheduling issues that arise due to weather conditions.
Clark said the relief measures allow schools to schedule spring athletics events as they become available, even if not previously scheduled. The measure applies to varsity and non-varsity levels, and is applicable only to the spring season.
Clark said there are conditions.
Scheduling an opponent who isn’t on the original schedule must be approved by the school and, possibly, district administrators. Conference matchups and previously scheduled games receive priority.
Roster limits and baseball pitching rules remain in effect, and all rescheduled games must conclude with the last day of the state finals in each sport.
It is clear the weather will impact the spring high school athletics season in ways yet to be seen, as it does every season. From a tongue-in-cheek standpoint, rescheduling cancelled or postponed events should not be much of an issue for high school athletics departments. All involved got plenty of practice during the winter high school sports season.
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