Virtual swim meets — each team in its own pool — are on the horizon for some schools as four sports start practice Monday, 156 days after the pandemic shut down high school sports in March.
Teams in boys' and girls' soccer and cross-country, girls' tennis and girls' swimming and diving start up with shorter seasons and limits on number of competitions, the result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Moving the sport to spring collides with the state’s significant club programs, which draw top players honing skills and seeking to earn college offers.
The Minnesota State High School League’s decision to move football and volleyball to spring — a result of the COVID-19 pandemic — has left recruiting plans for many hopeful college players in disarray.
Miah Monahan will be a Glencoe-Silver Lake senior, and in May accepted a scholarship to play guard for Eastern Illinois. She also plays volleyball but with that sport delayed until spring there could be a new challenge.
Star Tribune prep reporters David La Vaque and James Paulsen are bringing all you Minnesota high school sports enthusiasts another way to stay connected to the action.
As it approved plans to restart fall sports with limitations, the league's board signaled a new direction for financing its $9 million budget by relying less on state tournaments.
The issues range from practicing in already-crowded gyms to hosting football on still-frozen winter fields. We tackle those in a new Talking Preps podcast.
Along with relief to be playing, there also was a sense at the Stillwater school that sports still pale against the magnitude of uncertainties with the pandemic.
The Minnesota State High School League also cleared soccer and individual-based sports — cross country, girls' tennis and girls' swimming — to start as scheduled Aug 17 with limitations.
Spring football won't have the same aura towns like Hutchinson have come to embrace. It's still football, and that's better than nothing, but you can understand the disappointment players felt Tuesday.
Is it perfect? No. But the high school league, faced with navigating the 2020-21 sports calendar in a way that would make everyone happy, arrived at a reasonable compromise.
On the eve of arguably one of the most anticipated recommendations in its 105-year history, the Minnesota State High School League discussed two scenarios Monday for fall sports.
Kenneth Bergstedt started the wrestling program at Roseville's Alexander Ramsey High School in 1953 — the school's first year — and taught at the school for 32 years.
The victory capped a two-week event, created by area baseball coaches with the St. Paul Saints, to give recent Minnesota high school graduates an opportunity to compete after losing the 2020 high school season to the coronavirus pandemic.
A Minnesota State High School League task force also is considering a traditional season that starts on time as well as having teams practice this fall and seek to play games later in the school year.
Adhering to safety guidelines only goes so far when kids aren't at practice. Prep sports also have a connection to education that, mindful of COVID-19's ability to spread, distinguishes them from summer and club programs.
The National Federation of State High School Associations says states from the Southeast to Far West have shifted to later starts, some by a few weeks, others by full seasons.
Paige Bueckers and Marietta (Ga.) High School tight end Arik Gilbert will appear on the advance flip cover of the September 2020 issue of Sports Illustrated.