The weather outside has been frightful and adjusting the Maine high school sports schedule has been anything but delightful.

As the 2014-15 winter sports schedule approaches the end of the regular season, players, coaches and athletic directors alike have had to adjust their routines as a result of back-to-back storms that dumped a couple feet of snow across the state this past week.

“(It creates) headaches. Many, many headaches,” Cony AD Paul Vachon said Friday. “You hope that you make the right decisions where it doesn’t hurt players. There are many challenges in that where you have to worry about travel and if your buildings can open.

“…Our administrators take a lot of respect for making sure it’s safe for all our kids. That’s the No. 1 priority, most definitely.”

Chief among those snow-created headaches for Vachon was the Kennebec Valley Athletic Conference wrestling championships, which Cony was supposed to host Saturday at 9:30 a.m. Concerns with the storm and the ability to properly clean up the snow in the aftermath led the meet to be canceled Friday afternoon.

According to Medomak Valley AD Matt Lash — one of the tournament’s organizers — it had yet to be determined whether or not the meet would be made up.

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“At this point, there is no make-up,” Lash wrote via email. “We will discuss it at the KVAC AD meeting this coming Wednesday.”

For teams like Gardiner, there was some disappointment for a few reasons, but mainly for the individual matches may not happen this season as a result. The Tigers’ Jake Truman and Nokomis’ Chris Wilson, for example, were the top two seeds in the 195-pound bracket yet have not faced each other this season.

“They were looking forward to the competition because some of them won’t see these guys again,” Gardiner coach Matt Hanley said. “There are a couple matches that our kids were kind of looking forward to.”

Hanley said he is keeping an open mind to the potential of the meet being made up, but recognizes the difficulty in rescheduling an event with so many teams and regionals slated for Saturday.

“It’s not like a regular meet. There’s 16 teams or more and it’s too hard that way just to move it around,” Hanley said. “There’s always a possibility but it’s kind of hard because of availability.”

For undefeated Skowhegan (22-0), the biggest concern is it will go 19 days in between its last match and regionals due to weather.

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“It makes it difficult to peak at the end of the year when you can’t get on the mat,” Indians coach Tenney Noyes said. “A lot of them were really looking forward to testing themselves at KVACs, now they don’t have that. KVACs is a great test and great competition for everybody. It stinks.”

Wrestlers are obviously not the only ones who have been affected this week’s weather. The Cony/Monmouth hockey team has struggled with consistency throughout the season, and part of that has been due to a fluctuating schedule.

“It probably contributes some but there’s nothing you can do about it,” Rams coach Chad Foye said. “That stuff you have to let go and concentrate on what you can control and fixing the things you can.”

On Friday the Rams did what they could in holding an optional practice at the Bank of Maine Ice Vault, but with just about half the team in attendance the team was pretty much just limited to doing skill work. The snow has not been the only thing Cony/Monmouth — and a number of other area teams — have had to deal with though.

“A flu bug has been going around so a bunch of kids were getting sick,” senior defenseman Spencer Buck said. “We make do with what we have when we’re at practice.”

Buck also noted that the snow has also been helpful in a sense, as it has allowed some players dealing with injury or illness extra time to heal.

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That sentiment is shared by Messalonskee hockey coach Joe Hague, whose Eagles have not played a game since last Saturday’s win over Presque Isle. Messalonskee will make up Wednesday’s postponed game against Bangor on Monday. The Eagles practiced just twice this week, Hague said.

“As much as practice is a necessity, it’s been a blessing,” Hague said. “We’re getting healthier.”

When it comes to making up games or meets, generally speaking the more variables involved, the more difficult it becomes. For sports that bring together multiple schools like wrestling, track or swimming it involves finding out what works best for all those involved, but the process becomes that much more complicated when you are dealing with off-site facilities like pools, ice rinks or indoor tracks.

Coordinating postponments and rescheduling games can take a lot of time. It’s important for athletic directors to help each other, Lawrence AD Bill MacManus said. For every postponment, Lawrence AD Bill MacManus must make approximately 40 phone calls.

“There’s scorers, timers, refs, police, the band, coaches, a lot of people,” MacManus said. “The good thing about it is working with great AD’s who try to help each other.”

Next week is the final week of the high school basketball season. Postponments early in the season are much easier to reschedule, Leonard said. Now, the window to make up games is incredibly small.

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“We’ve got back-to-back games next week, but it’s something you have to do,” MacManus said.

For Waterville’s Sarah Shoulta, the defending Class B state champion in the indoor track champion in the 55 meter hurdles and pole vault, the cancellation of a regular season meet doesn’t affect her performance.

“It gives our legs a rest,” Shoulta said. “I can prepare with my teammates and do what we do at KVAC’s and states.”

For teams at small schools like the Richmond boys and girls basketball squads — which compete in Western D and routinely have lengthy bus trips for away games — travel tends to be the biggest concern.

“You just have to try to be creative and just realize we’re not the only school who is in this boat.” Jon Spear, who is in his first year as AD at Richmond and also coaches the boys basketball team, said. “There are a lot of schools that are in this boat, and you have to deal with what mother nature gives you and try to make it work.”

The Richmond boys and girl were scheduled to play at Rangeley Friday evening but instead switched it to a doubleheader beginning at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, The boys will end the regular season with five games in six days and the girls four games during the same span due to various postponements throughout the season.

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Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@mainetoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley

 

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM


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