The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Social distancing priority at open track
Avon Lake AD: Facility for individual use; practices led by captains are discouraged
Normally, Jon Brausch isn’t alone on the track at Avon Lake Memorial Stadium.
He’s there at Avon Lake’s track and field practice, where he works with his fellow Shoremen hurdlers.
For Brausch and the Avon Lake High School track and field team, nothing about this past week has been normal.
On March 10, Brausch was with his team working through hurdling techniques. On the afternoon of March 17, he was the lone runner in the stadium, the cold wind off the lake his only companion.
A week ago, Brausch and
Avon Lake were prepping for their season-opening meet at the start of April. Now they have no idea when they’ll be able to get together as a team.
While Brausch’s situation is less than ideal, it’s unique in that he has a track to practice at, as almost all Ohio high schools closed their facilities after Gov. Mike DeWine announced a three-week spring break to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Avon Lake athletic director Brent Schremp said Avon Lake’s track facilities will stay open to the Avon Lake community throughout the school closure, but it will have some restrictions.
“We didn’t open it up as something special, but we wanted to push out there that group workouts have stopped,” Schremp said. “We want to make sure we’re doing our due diligence to make sure that we’re keeping social distancing as our top priority.”
Additionally, the OHSAA delayed the start of the spring
sports season by three weeks. To comply with the delay, no teams are allowed to hold organized team practices and coaches are currently in a “no-contact period.” Schremp is hoping that athletes who want to use the track to stay in shape are able to take advantage of it in an individual setting.
“I don’t know how many kids we’ll get it, it’s an unknown. It’s such an unprecedented time. I’m sure parents are worried as well so how many will let them
come out and do stuff? We’ve stressed the idea that we’re discouraging captains’ practices. We’ve really discouraged that. That said, kids are going to want to stay in shape since nothing’s been ruled out.
“As the Governor and everyone’s stressing, we want to make sure that our kids know that they shouldn’t be getting together in groups and things like that. This is an opportunity that someone can still come and get out of the house.”
When Brausch found out that he would be able to keep practicing, he felt a wave of relief.
“I was really concerned before they announced the track was open because I didn’t know how I’d be able to practice my form and how to run over hurdles at a consistent pace considering I don’t have the equipment at home,” Brausch said.
As the spring sports season sits in this period of limbo, Schremp has made sure to keep teams in the loop on what’s happening. While he’s sad for every one of his spring athletes, Schremp is especially sad for one group.
“It’s sad when you see your senior athletes whether they’ll be able to participate,” he said. “For a lot of kids this is their main sport and what they look forward to. It’s sad and scary to some capacity because we don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Although Avon Lake’s track team is made up of mostly underclassman,
Brausch has plenty of Avon Lake seniors from all spring sports having trouble dealing with the postponement.
“Everyone’s kind of shocked by it. A lot of us were really ready to go and we felt like this was going to be our year,” he said. “The seniors have taken it especially hard. There aren’t a ton of seniors on the track team, but I know with baseball and lacrosse they’ve taken it really hard. I feel like this might be one of those ‘Once in a lifetime’ moments.”