St. Lawrence athletes were excited to learn they will be able to play this spring. On March 1, the Liberty League’s President’s Council unanimously approved athletic competition for the 2021 spring season. Spring 2020, fall 2020 and winter 2020-2021 athletic seasons were all cancelled by the league due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Competition will begin March 26, with SLU competing with a majority of teams from the Liberty League. All athletes will be tested regularly. Teams outside of the league can compete as long as they follow the same COVID-19 protocols. 

Track and field is one of the sports that will be competing, which means John Churchill ’22 will be on campus through early May to participate in the 800 and 400 during meets. Churchill explained that other he, and the other team members, was unsure at first about what the extra few weeks on campus would look like, but now he is looking forward to practicing in the warm weather and is hoping for a personal best. “People became genuinely more excited to be here on campus and be competing and hanging out with each other for those extra couple weeks” he said. 

The pandemic has changed the experience of being an athlete at SLU for Churchill. “ We’ve been limited to an hour for indoor practices and there hasn’t been any team lifts,” he said. “Its just made us a lot more independent, which I think has really helped me in certain ways.” 

Churchill is looking forward to the season, especially the weeks on campus with the rest of the track and field athletes. “Spending some quality time with just us will really strengthen our bond as a team. I think its just gonna be a great time to be here honestly.”

Jake Delaney ‘22 is a member of SLU’s baseball team and was also thrilled at the news of having a spring season. “When I found out we were having a season, I was so happy. We had a Zoom and I was like ‘let’s go!’” he said. “The whole team was on there and all the players were fired up.”

The baseball team had full practice schedules prior to the knowledge they would be able to play this spring, according to Delaney. “We just kicked it up another gear and practiced even harder,” he said.

One big difference is that the team cannot stay anywhere over night for games, which will increase their travel. But even on campus, SLU baseball is finding ways to work together. “Yesterday, a lot of us didn’t have class after three so we went down and just hung out at the field until sunset. You can’t ask for a better day than that,” Delaney says.

Being sent home last spring changed Delaney’s outlook on the team dynamic. “We had to redirect our efforts, we had to do our own thing and still stay organized as a team,” he said.

Both athletes have learned a lot through the uncertain year. “Be on your toes, roll with whatever,” Churchill said. “We found ways to overcome and its been a really great period for us to grow.”

Delaney agrees. “I learned to prepare in any circumstance even if you don’t know the outcome,” he said. “It might not be the outcome you expected so you have to adjust and face adversity in that moment.”