By my count, there have been at least 28 athletic events postponed so far this spring sports season in the area, which is an absurd amount to pile up in little more than two weeks. That's not even counting baseball and softball games which were able to be played but had to be moved to opponents' fields after last weekend's freak snowstorm.
So, it's pretty hard to gauge how area teams are doing so far, particularly in baseball and, to a lesser extent, softball. Even area track and field teams have had to rearrange their schedules a little.
But at least in track, the season's first invitational meets, the Selinsgrove Invitational and the Tamaqua Invitational, were able to be held on Saturday despite a day more suited to gloves and scarves than running shorts and shoes.
Amazingly, area athletes have already set some fairly tough standards, such as the 15.2 by Southern Columbia's Luke Rarig in the 110-meter high hurdles, a couple of 6-4 high jumps by Shamokin's Chris Petraskie, and a 10:07.44 3200-meter run by Mount Carmel's Nate Bartos. Rarig has also gone more than 20 feet in the long jump twice already.
On the girls side, North Schuylkill's Carter Green is already pushing 35 feet in the shot put and 120 feet in the discus. A pair of newcomers, sophomore Gabby Lahr of Shamokin and freshman Marissa Kleman of Mount Carmel, has also been impressive.
Lahr, competing in track for the first time, has done 12.95 in the 100 and 27.3 in the 200, and Kleman has run 1:01.51 in the 400.
Kleman has also been part of what looks like it's going to be a very formidable 1600-meter relay unit, along with Ali Varano, Jen Bolick and Lauren Hause (or Amanda Areallano), which has already clocked 4:14.09 and easily won Saturday at Selinsgrove.
The Red Tornado boys did the same thing in that event Saturday, with a clocking of 3;36.70, and the 3200-meter relay team also won at Selinsgrove.
No team scoring was held at Selinsgrove, and that probably makes sense for a meet so early in the season. Coaches and their athletes make decisions based on the weather and other things. For example, Shamokin girls coach Dave Kopitsky, whose team had four dual meets in eight days, gave his team the weekend off to rest. Boys coach Mike Rogers didn't take a full squad, and pulled Petraskie out of the triple jump after he had won the high jump and also competed in the long jump. Southern Columbia's Andrew Steely was across town at Susquehanna University as part of a recruiting visit.
It doesn't make much sense to go all-out competing for team titles, especially on a day when pulled muscles are more of a threat than usual.
(Souders is a staff writer for The News-Item)