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IHSAA cancels spring season, Sandpoint coaches reflect

by DYLAN GREENE
Sports Editor | April 18, 2020 1:00 AM

SANDPOINT — It’s hard to believe, but the spring high school sports season is officially canceled.

After weeks of pushing back a potential return date and holding onto hope that somehow, someway a shortened season could be played, the Idaho High School Activities Association Board of Directors put an end to the delay Friday, announcing that all spring sports, activities and state tournaments were canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“As the COVID-19 situation continued to evolve, it became apparent that these state events could not be held safely and still follow the parameters set by the governor, [State Board of Education] and the IDHSAA,” the governing body said in a statement.

That means we won’t know if the Sandpoint girls golf team would’ve won state. We won’t know if the softball team led by three talented seniors in Brooklen Steiger, Izzo Edwards and Jaycie Irish would’ve reclaimed the district crown. We won’t know if senior Tyler Lehman would’ve pushed the Bulldog baseball team to a second trip to state in three years. We won’t know if the tennis squad would’ve swept the regional team titles on the boys and girls side. And we won’t know how many school records would’ve been shattered on the track by a highly motivated senior class.

It’s all unknown and will remain that way for the rest of time. People will remember this spring sports season as the season that could’ve been.

Obviously, everyone involved in spring sports is disappointed.

“Even though I figured this was coming, I was heartbroken and devastated, mostly for my seniors,” Sandpoint softball head coach Elizabeth Hawkins-Williams said.

Sandpoint track head coach Matt Brass said this is typically his favorite time of the year because this is when he starts seeing athletes take huge strides as they gear up for the last few meets of the season. But right now, he’s not getting to see all the hard work the kids put in during the offseason pay off. He said not being able to watch them grow and blossom on and off the track is the worst part of it all.

“It’s just disappointing for me to realize that those kids don’t get a shot at it,” Brass said.

Brass and his wife, Angie, have been coaching in Sandpoint for 15 years. He’s never seen a season just get completely ripped away and can’t imagine what his athletes are going through.

Brass had a successful senior year when he was in high school at Sandpoint and tried to put himself in the shoes of the seniors who won’t get a final chance to leave their mark on the program.

“As much as sports meant to me and how dedicated I was to doing them, it would’ve been devastating,” he said.

Bionce Vincent, Paige Davidson, Seth Graham, Braedon Dressel, Jake Ryan, Maddie Morgan and Brandon Casey were among a group of 17 seniors on the track team that had ambitions of shattering the school record books. Now when they look back at this season it will be full of what ifs.

Brass said he knows his athletes are upset about the season being canceled and the tough part is they can’t go see their friends for support during this time due to social distancing.

Hawkins-Williams said her group of seven seniors set the standard for how players should progress throughout the course of their careers. Their work ethic and commitment was undeniable and they bought into a team-first mentality which helped the team as a whole be more successful.

“I think this team set that example and these seniors I feel like we’re the group that I’ve been waiting for to really embrace that team philosophy,” she said.

Hawkins-Williams is used to dedicating a huge portion of her spring to softball but now she is just working and it doesn’t feel right.

Sandpoint tennis head coach Kent Anderson said it’s sad that his team won’t be able to take the court this season because they were so eager and excited when March rolled around.

Anderson only had four seniors on the girls side and none on the boys side so fortunately his team doesn’t have as many heartbroken seniors as others but two of them are players that don’t come around very often.

Jenny Slaveck was a lock to make it to state in singles for the second year in a row in Anderson’s eyes and a player that was always there for others. Anderson spent some time at the Travers Park tennis courts Friday morning teaching his granddaughter and handing out team apparel to a couple of his players who had bought some but hadn’t picked it up yet due to COVID-19.

One of the players that showed up was Slaveck. Anderson wanted to console her but he could only talk to her from a distance thanks to the current limitations.

“I wanted to give Jenny a big hug but I can’t,” he said.

Hadley Goodvin is the other senior tennis player that will be hard to replace.

“She was so anxious to be a really great senior captain,” Anderson said about Goodvin. “She had it all organized. We did one pizza party at her house ... She just wanted to have a really tight, cohesive team and one pizza party and it’s over.”

Anderson has been coaching the pair since seventh grade and said they are like family to him.

Anderson is looking forward to his summer tennis camp in mid July with most of his team returning next year, but that event is still up in the air.

“If they cancel everything for the summer and none of the kids can really train adequately that’s a tough deal for all of our sports and that’s a possibility,” he said.

Sandpoint baseball head coach Chase Tigert won’t get to see five of his players take the field in a Bulldog uniform ever again: Tyler Lehman, Carter Envik, Ethan Edlund, Anthony Arroyo and Conrad Becker. Tigert said this year’s senior class was special and he is disappointed they didn’t get the chance to show it.

“I will always remember my senior year of baseball and it’s really unfortunate this will be the memory our kids have of their senior year,” he said.

Tigert said this year’s squad had great chemistry and it’s hard to think that this season will always have an asterisk next to it, but they just need to keep their heads up and start getting ready for next year.

“We worked hard, we had fun together and we were playing really well together,” he said. “I know everyone in the program had been looking forward to this season since last June, so not having the opportunity to experience the things I felt we were going to accomplish is a pretty big blow.”

Sandpoint golf coach Michael Deprez had high hopes for seniors Aly Lish, Joel Johnson, Jaden DuMars and Wilson VanDenBerg and a girls team that took third at state in 2019 but now all those expectations have been wiped away.

The golf team was the only Sandpoint team that got a chance to compete this spring, taking part in the North Idaho Challenge. As of right now nothing is close to being set in stone, but Deprez is trying to find a way to setup an unofficial regional battle with Moscow and Lakeland over the summer to give the athletes something they will remember and hold on to.

“My job is to give the kids the best and most positive athletic experience they can get in my area which is golf,” he said. “Even though the clock has stopped ticking for this season, it has not stopping ticking for me to be their coach.”