Coronavirus puts brakes on Edgewater’s Leary
Edgewater High two-sport standout Christian Leary feels as if he barely got out of the starting blocks during his 2020 track season.
The junior, who was a first-team all-area and Class 7A all-state receiver for the Eagles’ state runner-up football team, set a school record with a 10.50-second time in the 100-meter dash in his season-opening meet, the Windermere Meet of Champions.
Now it looks as if that could be the only 100 he runs this season. Florida schools are closed until at least April 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic and many fear spring sports will not be resumed.
“I really don’t want them to cancel the state meet,” Leary said. “I feel like I’ve got a shot to win state. Next year I might leave [high school] early, so I might not have another shot at that.”
It’s not just his track season that is on hold. Leary’s football recruiting process has also ground to a standstill due to the novel coronavirus that forced the closure of college campuses even before Florida’s high schools shut down.
The 5-foot-10, 185-pound speedster has roughly 40 football scholarship offers and had already arranged to take official campus visits to Oklahoma from April 17-19, and West Virginia from June 12-14. His plan was to schedule his three other allowed official trips over the next several of months, in between or after he finished up track and spring football practice.
Leary hopes to graduate next December and enroll in college the following month.