Sports get tentative return date

New Mexico officials have repeatedly stressed that the data, not the date, would determine when public health orders would be relaxed for various activities around the state as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Sports teams in the Land of Enchantment finally got a date, as Tuesday afternoon the New Mexico Activities Association announced it can tentatively begin sports seasons on Feb. 22.

New Mexico Activities Association Executive Director Sally Marquez said Tuesday afternoon a tenative calendar of sports based on the Feb. 22 start date will be the topic of an emergency board of directors meeting today.

The state announced earlier Tuesday that schools could return to in-person learning Feb. 8 at all grade levels, but did not address prep sports in that announcement.

The start date, the NMAA said, is contingent on how successful the expansion of in-person learning is, with the Public Education Department and Department of Health monitoring infection rates. If it is determined the expansion of in-person learning isn't leading to significant infection spikes, the Feb. 22 start date will remain in place.

Various schools had weighed in for the last few weeks, including a plea from Schools Superintendent Renee Russ. She sent a letter to the governor's office Jan. 14 that encouraged the return of extracurricular activities and gave a commitment the district would comply with whatever protocols are required.

"For many students," Russ wrote in the letter she shared Monday with The News, "the motivation to perform in the classroom is directly connected to participation in extracurricular activities. The problem-solving skills and discipline they acquire fuels their success both in the classroom and in their lives beyond school. They build self-esteem, become leaders, and learn to persevere. Contributing to a team also instills the prerequisite skills necessary for becoming productive citizens in their communities."

A response Monday from Lujan Grisham press secretary Nora Sackett did not hint at any announcement on Tuesday, but she encouraged New Mexicans to continue making COVID-safe decisions to help reduce spread.

"We all want to resume more of our normal day-to-day activities, but the virus dictates the timeline, as it has since the beginning of the pandemic," Sackett said. "Our priority has been and will continue to be safely getting more students back into the classroom all across the state, and after we've done that and done it right, we hope to be able to get more teams safely back on the field, too. Over 3,000 of our fellow New Mexicans have now been killed by this virus - public health must remain the top priority."

As far as college sports go, Eastern New Mexico University is unlikely to host games for the immediate future. In addition to a state requirement of spectator-free games:

• No competition can be held in a county with more than eight daily cases per 100,000 residents or test positivity above 5% over a 14-day period. Roosevelt County stood at 5.27% test positivity between Jan. 14 and Monday, with about 36.5 daily cases per 100,000 residents.

• Any visiting team must travel only between their lodging facility and the athletic facility, and must have meals delivered to their place of lodging.

• All visiting team members and staff must test negative for COVID-19 through a PCR test within 72 hours of arrival.

• Any team traveling must test within 48 hours and quarantine until it receives results prior to traveling out of state to play. Anybody who tests positive or fails to tests is not permitted to travel.

The Greyhounds are slated to open their baseball season Feb. 5 with a home three-game series against St. Edward's.

"It's scheduled even though the state probably isn't going to allow it," Price said, "given the restrictions."

Still, Price remains optimistic about some type of season.

"Our administration has told us their main concern is getting the spring sports their season in one shape or another. Whether that's all away games or holding off home games until (there are public health order changes) I'm not sure what that looks like."

Should the St. Edward's series take place, all three games in the series would be nine-inning games, Price said. The conference has traditionally done a weekly four-game series with a Saturday doubleheader of seven-inning games book-ended by nine-inning games on Friday and Sunday. Adding the extra four innings to the Saturday doubleheaders helps partially make up for the overall games lost on the schedule.

Baseball is more of a socially distanced sport than others, with defensive players all at least 45 feet apart. However, the at-bat is the linchpin for everything, and the batter and catcher are too close for most meaningful drills to take place.

As far as strengths and concerns coming into the season, Price said he's at a little bit of a loss because the team hasn't had what it would consider a full practice.

"We have 17 newcomers right now," Price said. "We look to be stronger in all areas, but we're still in the process of evaluating our talent because we haven't gotten to see them."