MHSA: Winter sports to start as scheduled

Per a report from 406mtsports.com last week, almost all of the superintendents of Class AA schools have asked the Montana High School Association to delay the start of winter sports competitions from Jan. 2 to Jan. 18.

In actuality, the winter sports season was already delayed by the MHSA due to COVID-19. Before fall sports wrapped up, the MHSA announced that winter sports would not begin until Dec. 7 for practice and Jan. 8 for competitions. Eventually, the competition date was moved back down to Jan. 2, but still, the first date of competition for winter sports, had it not been for COVID, was set to be Dec. 5.

The idea for the delay was two-fold when the MHSA announced it. One, by October Montana, like much of the country, had begun to see a sharp spike in COVID cases across the state, and the spread this time was even into the rural populations, unlike the spike that happened in the summer.

The delay also gave schools a chance to regroup after the fall sports season had concluded. While the fall sports season made it to the end, and with few major issues, COVID was ever-present, with plenty of football and volleyball cancellations along the way. So delaying the start of winter sports allowed schools to hit the reset button, including making it through Thanksgiving break before starting basketball, wrestling and swimming practices.

Still, the biggest surge in Montana happened throughout November, causing concern to even the delayed start of the winter sports season. That was enough for the AA superintendents, according 406 Sports, to ask the MHSA to delay the start of competition back Dec. 8.

For now, however, the MHSA says competitors will begin on Jan. 2. The AA superintendents had chosen Jan. 18 because that is two weeks after Christmas break, so schools can see better where they, and the state is at with the virus. In Decemeber, COVID numbers have started dropping fairly sharply in Montana, and a large spike from Thanksgivng never occurred. But Christmas and New Year's are up next, so those superintendents wanted to be able to assess where Montana was headed after the holidays.

The MHSA will further discuss the superintendents' concerns Jan. 6, MHSA executive director Mark Beckman told The Gazette and 406mtsports.com Friday. The MHSA will meet with its advisory team Jan. 7 and report to its executive board during its regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 11.

Beckman added: "We proceeded cautiously" in the fall and he believes the season "went pretty well."

The fall went fairly well, but coronavirus numbers in August and September were much lower than they are now. And Montana's biggest spike didn't start getting out of hand until well into October.

As for the effects of COVID on Havre High, fall sports went pretty smoothly, with Havre's most participated fall sport, football, having just its last game canceled due to 30-plus Blue Ponies in quarantine.

Still, as smoothly as the fall may have gone, the numbers are much higher now in Montana, even as it trends downward and vaccines become available. Plus, winter sports are all held indoors, and while the MHSA has very strong and strict protocols in place for winter sports, they will proceed with caution, just as they did in the fall.

Havre High is set to open all of its winter sports seasons on Jan. 2. The Blue Pony basketball teams host Lewistown that day, while HHS wrestling heads to Miles City and Pony swimming hosts Hardin and Billings Central at the Havre Community Pool.