By Nora-Kathleen Berryhill
Sept. 30, 2020
A spike of COVID-19 cases among Edgewood student athletes has placed the Edgewood athletics teams on a two-week hiatus until October 4. All team members have been advised to shelter in place, attend classes remotely, and avoid unnecessary travel during this period.
Morgan Koss, a sophomore on the softball team, said that a few Edgewood teams had allegedly attended a house party hosted by one of the teams. She also said that the majority of recently reported cases are concentrated in a few specific teams, with other teams having little or no reported cases.
“We’re frustrated as a team because we don’t have any positive cases,” she said. Moss said that some teams have been less strict than others in enforcing the current COVID-19 guidelines. “Our coach requires us to wear our masks at practice—it’s mandatory.”
She noted that breaches of Edgewood’s COVID-19 policies are not at all unique to certain student athletes, and a lack of rigorous symptom checking for the entire Edgewood population may allow cases to go unreported. Koss said that can cause student athletes to be held to a higher standard than other Edgewood students, whose off-campus behavior is being less closely monitored by the college.
“We have a symptom sheet that we have to fill out every day, whereas other college students could have symptoms and just think ‘Oh, it’s just a cold, it’s normal.’ They don’t have to consistently keep track of their symptoms or report them to anyone. For athletes, as soon as we don’t feel well, we tell the coaches and they tell us to get tested.”
On-campus students in dorms are encouraged to fill out a 14-day symptom sheet which the college can request. They are also provided with free thermometers and hand sanitizer.
“For each positive case in our community, there are scores of phone calls, dozens of meals delivered, and hundreds of hours of work – seven days a week,” President Manion said in an email last week.
Jacob Slonim, who plays on the baseball team, said that “We are committed to using this two week period to develop a plan for action for when we resume athletic activities in October. This would include team wide discussions on how we must continue to align our values with those of Edgewood College.”
The Edgewood athletics department released this official statement:
Due to the recent spike in cases at Edgewood College, the athletic department has placed a two-week moratorium on all team activities.
Edgewood College leadership, and the Eagles athletic department, are committed to the safety and security of our students, and we feel this is the best course of action at this time.
We are optimistic of a return to team activities.
As a spike in cases brings Edgewood athletics to a temporary halt, UW-Madison prepares for the Badger football season to begin. This signifies a reversal of the Big Ten’s earlier decision to postpone competition. The Badger Herald, UW-Madison’s student newspaper, reported that the college intends to test players for the virus daily and keep those with active COVID-19 cases away for at least 21 days.
In a July email, President Manion wrote that Edgewood College, in accordance with the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), “made the difficult decision to postpone all conference regular-season competitions and championship events through December 31, 2020.” So far Edgewood College has stuck by this decision.
Clara Berning, an Edgewood student on the cross country team, said that while she feels that the Badgers returning will bring some semblance of normalcy back to the campus, she hopes that all athletes at both Edgewood and UW-Madison athletes will be diligently following the guidelines.
For student athletes, the past six months been a rollercoaster of uncertainty, between the lockdown in March and the tenuous prospects of the fall season. Despite all this, many are determined to stay positive no matter how the circumstances.
“I believe Cross Country has shaped my work ethic and has helped me grow to be the person that I am today. It is truly a sport that pushes you mentally and physically. In my future career as a nurse, there are going to be good and bad days, and how I deal with those days mentally are going to be important as I grow professionally,” Berning said.
Slonim said about that “I do not think that this hiatus will affect our team. We are all hardworking, self-motivated individuals who want perform at the highest level.”
Koss agreed, acknowledging that although the sudden start-and-stop has been difficult, especially to freshman athletes, “the teams that really want to succeed won’t have a problem.”
Berning looks forward to the day when she can compete in races and get Culver’s ice cream with her team after practices again. Until then, she says, everyone should be “committed to doing whatever it takes to keep themselves, their peers, and the community healthy.”
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