The reminder that winter is far from over arrived Thursday as school districts began to postpone activities for the Super Bowl weekend from Friday night through Sunday. The forecast of large amounts of snowfall during the weekend and additional accumulation possible as early as Tuesday has athletic directors and league commissioners scrambling.
Bishop Ireton was able to conduct its rescheduled senior night wrestling meet with Good Counsel and the girls’ basketball team travelled to Olney Thursday to play the Falcons in WCAC basketball. The rescheduled boys contest with Good Counsel on Sunday, however, fell victim to the weather. As of Friday, no makeup date has been set.
The WCAC wrestling championships at Bishop McNamara set for Saturday have been rescheduled, however, to Presidents’ Day, Monday, Feb 15th, with weigh-ins at 7:30am and wrestling beginning at 9am. “We agreed that with all the WCAC schools off on Presidents’ Day, it would be a better day to wrestle than taking wrestlers out of school multiple times next week to attempt to conduct the tournament during the week.” said WCAC wrestling chairman, Darrell Snyder of Bishop O’Connell.
Washington Metropolitan Private Schools Swim and Dive League (WMPSSDL) championships were scheduled for this weekend as well, but plans were tabled when many venues with pools began to close on Thursday for the coming storm. While diving was scheduled for Thursday, organizers are working for a new date to conduct the swimming portion, looking at possibly swimming simultaneously at two sites, girls in one pool while the boys swim at another location in order to conduct the meet during the coming week. No decision has been reached at this point.
The Cardinals award-winning cheerleaders were weathered out of the Blue Ridge Classics in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Saturday. The CCA has rescheduled the event for Saturday, February 27th in Lynchburg.
Ireton’s hockey team waits as the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League ponders closings. The Cardinals are scheduled to travel to Ashburn Friday at 9pm and again on Sunday afternoon. Athletic director Bill Simmons recommends keeping a close eye on the School’s athletic website in these type of situations and signing up for the electronic notices of schedule changes for those sports of interest or where student athletes are participating. “It really is a great tool for us to notify families. You can sign up for the specific teams your athlete is involved with without having to receive notices for sports you aren’t associated.” explained Simmons.
Nothing is more jumbled than the basketball situation however. While Ireton’s varsity girls have lost only Friday night’s game with Bishop McNamara, the boys have Good Counsel from last Tuesday evening and now the Mustangs to reschedule, with St Johns on tap for Tuesday and more snow in the forecast. The WCAC regular season campaign is scheduled to end the week of Presidents’ Day and the league tournament to commence the following week. With two games already scheduled for that week and as many as three more possibly requiring a rescheduling, coaches and athletic directors face back-to-back games ahead.
“I understand the need to play the varsity games and possibly endure a marathon of games.” said Ireton’s Simmons. “One thing we likely will do is reduce the rescheduling of freshmen and junior varsity contests. There is no reason for them to play two and three days in a row, particularly with early dismissals and academic challenges for our youngest student athletes. I am not saying we will cancel their remaining games, but I am suggesting that while our varsity teams may play three games in three days, our younger teams will likely only play one or two of those three days.” Conference ADs will work through the weekend on these issues, mindful that some teams will not practice for three or more days before students return to school and scheduled games.
As always, Ireton athletic department officials recommend keeping a close eye on the website.
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