High School Sports Still on Hold, But There’s Hope

Sports fans are uniquely attuned to color, but their fascination is typically limited to the hues of uniforms and other accoutrements of the games.
Most recently, four colors have emerged as holding primary importance for high school student-athletes, though the attraction has nothing to do with jersey tops or knee socks.
Rather, it’s the state of California’s four-tiered, color-coded system that tracks counties by the number of COVID-19 cases recorded each day and the percentage of positive cases out of the total number of tests administered, both averaged over seven days. With each sport assigned a colored tier that corresponds with the level of safety needed for competition, participants and family members are constantly checking for any progress in infection rates.
Tier 1, or Purple, indicates that the virus is widespread in the county — with more than seven cases per 100,000 residents or more than 8% of tests results reported positive over seven days. Tier 2, or Red, indicates “substantial” spread of the virus, Tier 3 — Orange — indicates “moderate” spread, and Tier 4, Yellow, indicates “minimal” spread of the virus in the county.
With Los Angeles County currently in the Purple tier, here is a metric showing each Season 1 sport for San Marino High School student-athletes and the tier they must achieve to begin competition.
GIRLS’ AND BOYS’ CROSS COUNTRY
Due to its mostly inherent nature of social distancing, cross country is one of the few sports that is allowed to hold competitions while the county is in the purple tier. David Irie, San Marino High School’s director of athletics, attended a meeting of fellow Rio Hondo League athletic directors on Monday evening.
“There are still a lot of hurdles we have to figure out. The county hasn’t said that we can compete and when they say we can compete then we have to wait for our school districts to let us compete,” Irie said.
In the meantime, Irie said it was imperative to be prepared. Another impediment is finding a facility of sufficient size, which might include a park or school. The athletic directors even toyed with the idea of competing in a “time trial” format.
“Each school would come to the location and run in cohorts,” Irie explained. “We could then come up with a total team score.” Irie said the format would require the services of an official timer but seemed feasible.
“Whatever I can do to get this going,” Irie said. “We have to be prepared so that when the county and school districts say we can go we will be ready to go.”
Angus Leung, who coaches both the boys’ and girls’ teams, says he has been ready to go since the summer. During the quarantine period, San Marino’s runners held workouts independent of the coaching staff.
BOYS’ VOLLEYBALL
To lessen the likelihood of the sport being canceled in consecutive seasons, the CIF took the proactive step of moving the sport from Season 1 to Season 2, which improves its prospects.
A San Marino High School boys’ volleyball game stands as the most recent official athletic contest having been played. Spectators were not allowed in Dingus Memorial Fieldhouse when the Titans hosted Arcadia in the final game before the pandemic-induced shutdown.
The switch to Season 2 provides hope for any semblance of a normal season, and coach Tony Chou says he will have the Titans ready.
GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL
While there is hope for boys’ volleyball, desperation reigns for their Lady Titans counterparts.
“Once again, the prospect of moving two tiers in as many months is a big challenge,” Irie said.
Rio Hondo League officials will meet on Feb. 23 to discuss the prospects of the sport, and Irie is holding out hope that a one-round Rio Hondo League campaign can be salvaged.
Angel Ramirez, the team’s new coach, hosts both virtual and in-
person practices and is looking forward to the day the squad is allowed to play.
COMPETITIVE CHEER
Cheerleaders will be encouraged to participate if and when sports are restarted. But the CIF recently canceled the competitive brand of cheerleading, which was scheduled to hold championships in April.
San Marino was slated to field a team in competitive cheer this year for the first time, but it became a victim of the pandemic.
Head coach Elizabeth Angiuli, a former San Marino High School cheerleader, continues to hold practices via Zoom and looks forward to the next event at which her charges are welcome.
FOOTBALL
To play any part of a football season, Los Angeles County must jump two tiers, from Purple to Orange — a hefty chore even under the best of circumstances.
“The challenge is it takes time to move from one tier to the next,” Irie said. “We have to jump from purple to red to orange, so that is the challenge. The benefit to football is that the season doesn’t end until April.”
The drawback to football, is that there are additional and strict participation requirements involving conditioning and contact. Head coach Justin Mesa continues to put the Titans through the paces three days a week, and if there is a coach of the year candidate for a sport that might never be played, it’s Mesa, who has negotiated the year-round nature of the sport with aplomb.
The Rio Hondo League will be meeting on Feb. 23 to discuss football’s future. The Titans are slated to begin a modified five-game schedule on March 19 with a 7 p.m. visit to Temple City.
GIRLS’ AND BOYS’ WATER POLO
Coach Mark Barr is holding virtual workouts for the Lady Titans, and Robert Zirovich has both in-person and virtual sessions for the boys’ team. Like other sports in the orange tier, time is not on the side of water polo though student-athletes remain in game shape should the metric change.