By Erin Maggio (’21)
With the women’s basketball team taking the court against Elmira College on March 6, the 357 day streak of no Houghton Highlander teams competing will be snapped. With the spring 2020 season being halted due to COVID-19 and the fall 2020 seasons being pushed to this spring, no teams have competed since March 10, 2020, when the men’s lacrosse team came away with a 21-12 defeat over the Keystone Giants and the women’s lacrosse team bested the Hilbert Hawks 23-4.
With fall teams having their seasons pushed to the spring, many of them have not hit the field in well over a year, including the men’s and women’s soccer teams and women’s field hockey team, who have not played a game in well over 450 days, since their last competitions on November 2, 2019.
However long the drought of competition riddled with uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Houghton’s athletic conference, the Empire 8, has unrolled plans for all 23 Empire 8 sponsored sports to hold competition per their Instagram post on March 1. This arrangement includes fall, winter, and spring sports all playing in the next few months.
“The approach to the spring seasons for all our sports has been very unique to say the least!” Houghton’s Athletic Director Matthew Webb commented.
Some of this uniqueness comes from the fact that fall and winter team sports will be having abbreviated schedules, most playing just fellow conference teams. While normal seasons in the fall typically span nine to 10 weeks, the seasons this spring will be about four to five weeks in length.
Another aspect of the season which differs from the past is the “opt-out” process which the Empire 8 has created because of the unique impact that the pandemic has on many teams and institutions. Teams from across the conference have had to opt out due to roster size implications, whether because of dual-sport athletes, students not returning to campuses this spring, or actual COVID related issues like positive cases and quarantine.
In terms of Houghton specifically, two teams have opted out of competition this spring. The first of these is the men’s lacrosse team, who, according to Webb, “actually initiated this response as they came to the [athletic department] with their preference to just compete internally this spring.” Webb added that there were many factors which led to this. Though they won’t be playing a full Empire 8 schedule, it is possible that they may play a few games.
The other Houghton team opting out is the women’s basketball team. This decision rests on the fact that the team has a small roster with many dual sport athletes which makes choices limited. Rather than a full conference schedule, they will be hitting the court for three competitions, the first of which will be the aforementioned contest against the Elmira Soaring Eagles. The other two will be on March 4 and 9, against Alfred University and a rematch with Elmira College, respectively.
More than 230 student athletes will compete for Houghton this spring. But with this opportunity comes the responsibility of strict adherence to COVID protocols to keep themselves, their teams, opponents, faculty, staff, fellow students, and community members safe. These include wearing a mask at all required times, social distancing, attending all scheduled COVID-19 tests, and participating in any necessary contact tracing.
Along with such protocol, the conference and Houghton’s Athletic Department have taken increased measures to protect all involved. On February 16 the conference announced their plans to proceed with spring competition, along with information concerning safety measures. “The Empire 8 has adopted more robust testing standards than the NCAA guidelines for intermediate and low risk sports in the interest of student-athlete health and safety,” the press release shared.
Chuck Mitrano, the Empire 8’s Commissioner celebrated the resumption of conference competition on Instagram; “Nothing great is achieved without persistence and teamwork. The return to athletics competition has been challenging but we are thrilled to have preserved opportunity for many of our fall and winter student-athletes. Thanks to the energy and collaborative leadership of our presidents, directors of athletics, senior woman administrators, athletic trainers, sports information directors and coaches, the day has arrived! This is truly a statement about our commitment to the Empire 8 student-athletes!” he remarked.
While no in-person attendance is allowed at intercollegiate events as per New York State guidelines, fans can follow along with most home contests through Stretch Internet and be on the lookout for live streams from opponents in the case of away games. ★