Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

For more than a month Gabbi Bullard braced for the bombshell barreling down on her and her Solon track teammates.

No matter what Bullard did to prepare nothing could soften the impact the Solon senior felt on Friday following the announcement that spring sports in Iowa had been cancelled due to the affects of the global coronavirus pandemic.

“I’ve been leery of it since spring break and when the northeast counties got the shelter in place, I kind of knew, there was no way the whole state was going to be able to come together and be at state,” Bullard said. “I was kind of expecting it but it didn’t soften the blow too much.”

Bullard was one of about 45,000 high school athletes from around the state that learned they will not get a chance to compete this spring.

Governor Kim Reynolds announced in a Friday morning news conference that Iowa school will be closed through the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That news all but spelled out what many had already feared, that spring sports in the state, track and field, soccer, golf and tennis would be cancelled.

Shortly after Reynolds’ new conference the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released a joint statement on Friday outlining the cancellation of the spring season.

“I ache for my seniors probably more than anything but I also ache for my program and just the track and field community,” City High boys track and field coach Mike Moore said. “I ache for the tennis programs, the soccer players everybody. These are kids that have logged a lot of time into their crafts, whether they are state champions or they are not state champions it really doesn’t matter you have to feel for those kids.”

The spring sports season had been suspended twice prior to its cancellation on Friday.

Spring sports were delayed until April 12 and then later until April 30. Earlier this month both the IHSAA and IGHSAU released a revised schedule including postseason dates for all spring sports.

On Friday the suspensions turned into a cancellation.

“It was tough, obviously we all had in our minds that spring sports could be cancelled but just having it happen today and getting the news it was very sad,” Clear Creek Amana senior track athlete Nick O’Connor said. “We had still be doing workouts and training our butts off and trying to stay motivated in case there was a season but in the back of our heads we weren’t getting our hopes up.”

With spring sports officially cancelled the hope for some athletes turns to the summer.

Summer sports have been suspended with a further decision on summer sports baseball and softball to be made June 1.

For athletes like O’Connor and Bullard Friday’s announcement marked premature ends to prep careers and brought with it a rush of emotions.

Bullard, who will continue her track career at the University of Iowa, said she ran the emotional gamut on Friday but was at peace with the decision that was made.

“I definitely understand why the decision was made. I don’t think our country or Kim Reynolds would be doing this if it wasn’t necessary, nobody would want to take away people’s jobs or schooling or things like that,” Bullard said. “They take everything in consideration and I have 100 percent trust in them. I’m trying to see the bigger picture because it’s hard being a senior and losing all of these lasts before we even got them but I understand that if it is going to be what is most beneficial for the state, the country, the world that’s more important than a high school track season to me. I’m not saying that high school track is not important to me because I have lived and breathed track since I was in fourth grade but I completely understand it.  

For O’Connor the toughest part was missing an opportunity to add to what has been an impressive rebuild of the Clipper athletic programs over the past four seasons.

O’Connor was part of back-to-back Class 3A runner-up finishes in cross country and a third-place finish at the state basketball tournament in March.

The expectations for Clear Creek Amana this track season were higher than at any time in recent history.

“Coming in our freshman year we weren’t at the top of athletics and we built in every sport,” O’Connor said. “It’s tough to swallow because we knew coming in we had a very good chance at competing at that high level in a lot of different events.”

The hardest part for Bullard wasn’t missing out on her own possible success but instead seeing her teammates and coach Brent Sands deal with the uncertainty of the last month.

“What has been the hardest part for me is seeing and experiencing how hard this has been on coach Sands because he is so invested in the Solon track program and every single athlete that he coaches,” Bullard said. “He is doing everything he can to keep us positive and its been really hard for me to have to watch him put all that extra stress on himself because he tries so hard and he’s such a good guy and puts everybody in front of him.”

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