At this time last year, high school athletes were out on the golf courses, tennis courts and the track and baseball fields.

Saturday, March 31, 2001

At this time last year, high school athletes were out on the golf courses, tennis courts and the track and baseball fields.

This year, however, Mother Nature is cutting short the season for high school athletics. The teams have been running in high school halls, but the running on hard floors can lead to shin splints.

Tony Einertson, the Austin High School girls track coach, has been having the girls lift weights and they have been running on the second floor of the high school.

Meanwhile, Larry Luke, the baseball coach at Southland, has been having his boys go through drills in the batting cages to keep in shape.

"They are special drills," Luke said, "hitting drills, agility drills and fielding drills, but who knows when we will be getting outside to really see how we will be doing."

Tom Clements, the Lyle/Pacelli girls softball coach, echoes Luke’s sentiment.

"We are working on fly balls in the cages as best we can," he said. "We need to get outside and then muscle memory takes over."

The golf coaches are having even more difficulty training in gyms. The golf courses still are loaded down with heavy snow and it has been slowly melting.

Mark Anderson, the Austin high school girls coach, has been working on form with the girls and chipping and putting. The girls spend time reading the rules books for golf while waiting for their turns on the gym floor.

There’s good news, however, for those who want the snow to melt, according to Ryan Burchett, KIMT’s chief meteorologist.

"The next couple days we will be seeing 18 to 20 hours of above-freezing temperatures and this will hurry up melting," Burchett said. "We have been only having three to four hours of melting in the afternoons. That is why we still have so much snow. We will be having rain and this takes a chunk out of the snow."

Unfortunately, wide open spaces like golf courses and baseball fields take longer for the snow to melt off because the snow cools the air. It will be warming up, but according to Burchett, it could be another three weeks before the athletes will be able to play in the parks and fields.

Another problem after the snow melts is muddy fields. The ground is not thawed completely so water will be standing in open fields. Warmer temperatures and a good thunderstorm are what is needed for the ground to thaw for proper drainage.

Chris Staloch, the Blooming Prairie boys’ baseball coach, along with other spring sports coaches, has set the schedule back a week, but knows it probably will be set back even further as there is still more than 3 feet of snow on the baseball and track fields.

Call Sheila Donnelly at 434-2234 or e-mail her at sports@austindailyherald.com.