![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/WBBvUNKAS20205.jpg?resize=790%2C527\")
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe women\u2019s\u2019 basketball team players aren\u2019t the only Tigers dealing with national championship dreams crushed. In fact, Tiger Wrestling was set to send five individuals to the NCAA Championship in Sioux Falls, S.D. The list included seniors Brandon Ball and Jordan Davis. Also among the competitors were junior Marty Verhaeghe, sophomore Aryus Jones, and redshirt-freshman Mason Turner.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ball would have made his fourth appearance in the championships while attempting to become a three-time All-American. Davis, meanwhile, planned to make his first appearance with hopes of becoming an AA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was a crushing blow to get the news,\u201d Wrestling head coach, Chas Thompson, said.\u00a0 \u201cThese guys had been training for seven months for this moment, and were 15 to 16 hours away from weighing in.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/B95A7117-1.jpg?resize=790%2C527\")
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\nEven despite this disappointment, Thompson and his wrestlers soon began to realize what was at stake and the reasoning behind the NCAA and MIAA decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow after processing it and seeing how fast this is spreading, you have to understand that this pandemic is bigger than you, your team, and this sport,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cWe have to make sure this doesn\u2019t turn into a mass epidemic where it\u2019s spreading like wildfire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another team of Tigers forced to come to this same conclusion were members of the Indoor Track and Field team that were already at the National Championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nSophomore pole vaulter, Ryan Stanley, and junior high jumper, Summer Kragel, were prepared to compete in the NCAA Championships for their sport when the cancellations became official.\u00a0\u00a0
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Kragel_Summer_0040.jpg?resize=790%2C444\")
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<\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n\u201cWith cross country and track and field, most student-athletes already participated in one or two seasons (cross country and indoor track and field),\u201d Cross Country\/Track and Field head coach, Jason McCullough, said. \u201cA few of our student-athletes who compete only outdoors, such as javelin and discus throwers, were unable to participate during the 2019 to 2020 season at all. Almost every student-athlete will also now have differing eligibilities for cross country, indoor, and outdoor track and field.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\nEqually as confusing was the ending to the season for teams still in their regular season play.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThere are so many unanswered questions. I am losing three seniors so it has been tough on them and me not seeing them able to finish their careers,\u201d Women\u2019s\u2019 Tennis head coach, Brian Flax, said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve coached for 24 years and this is the craziest thing I have experienced.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Lindell_Lauren_0897-1024x576.jpg\"\/)
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<\/figure><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\nIn this rapidly changing and unprecedented situation, many members of the community, athletes or not, find themselves with unanswered questions. When it comes to the MIAA and NCAA\u2019s decisions, the timeline before athletic events resume is indefinite. The NCAA did offer some consolation, however, with its approval of an additional year of eligibility for seniors participating in spring sports.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nDespite the complications for Tiger Athletics, coaches like McCullough stress the fact that all teams are in the same place.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cIt is important to realize that this unfortunate situation is not just affecting FHSU, but rather the entire country when it comes to NCAA athletic ramifications,\u201d McCullough said.
<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor now, student-athletes and FHSU Athletics fans can be certain of one thing: the coming weeks will bring a respite from any collegiate athletic activities. Even though this fact may be tough to handle, FHSU Athletic Director, Curtis Hammeke, emphasizes the importance of protecting the community.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe outlook for our teams moving forward is to take it one day at a time until this all blows over,\u201d Hammeke said. \u201cRight now the focus must remain on staying healthy and taking care of our classes. When things return to normal, we can resume the recruiting process and the physical preparations for 2020 to 2021.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BY MAKENNA ALLENPHOTOS BY ALLIE SCHWEIZER, DALSY TURNER, FHSU ATHLETICS The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the nation has left few areas of life untouched. For students… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":54731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13675,7349,3406,4542,3395,784],"tags":[11959,13690,11732,13676,185,604,2253,6163,5792,3448,1987,3336,12003,103],"class_list":["post-54716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-sports","category-tennis","category-track-sports","category-womens-basketball-sports","category-wrestling","tag-allie-schweizer","tag-brian-flax","tag-chas-thompson","tag-covid-19","tag-curtis-hammeke","tag-fhsu-athletics","tag-fhsu-tennis","tag-fhsu-track-field","tag-fhsu-track-and-field","tag-fhsu-womens-basketball","tag-fhsu-wrestling","tag-jason-mccullough","tag-makenna-allen","tag-tiger-media-network"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tigermedianet.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/B95A6984.jpg?fit=5455%2C3637&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54716"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54735,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54716\/revisions\/54735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}