Winter sports prepare for new-look season

Chadron State College’s winter sports are all scheduled for competition before the fall semester concludes, but the teams will see different procedures and schedules applied for safety precautions.

The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is allowing teams to wrestle before the semester ends while most other conferences in the nation are waiting until Jan. 1 to begin competition.

Eagle wrestlers are scheduled to host Western Colorado Dec. 5 and travel to Kearney Dec. 11. Head Wrestling Coach Brett Hunter said the team is in constant contact with Western and Kearney to ensure all parties are able to compete in a safe manner.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is prohibiting tournaments as teams are only allowed to dual meets.

Wrestlers are expected to wear facemasks during each dual, but not on the mat. With COVID-19 guidelines, teams will wrestle on at least two mats and extra time may be added for cleaning between matches, according to Hunter.

If the December meets are canceled, CSC wrestlers will continue practicing as the team hopes to host its annual Black and Cardinal Classic in Chadron.

Though the semester ends Nov. 25, wrestlers will remain in Chadron until Dec. 18 before receiving a 10-day break.

Because of the sport’s up-close nature, Hunter said wrestlers everywhere face a tough challenge with mitigating spread of COVID-19.

Meanwhile, both men’s and women’s basketball teams at CSC have competition scheduled within two weeks as the Eagles host Colorado School of Mines Nov. 22 and Regis University Nov. 23.

Following women’s basketball games, extra time for cleaning and sanitizing will be added before the men’s 20-minute warmup session. In conjunction with social distancing, the RMAC mandated that players and coaches away from the court wear facemasks. Basketball players and coaches will not shake hands with opponents after games or have  a captain’s meeting prior to competition.

Along with wrestling, CSC’s basketball coaches must adhere to guidelines set by the RMAC, NCAA and the state’s public health district.

 Depending on state policies in places like Colorado or Nebraska, basketball games may feature players wearing masks while playing on the court.

“I just want the kids to be able to play with their friends and family watching in the stands,” Head Women’s Basketball Coach Janet Raymer said.

CSC’s basketball teams will take their mandatory seven-day break beginning Dec. 20.

Similar to wrestling, Chadron State’s basektball teams are only scheduled to play conference opponents this season.