Two more high school basketball teams are in quarantine, bringing the city’s total to three and resulting in Thursday’s Columbus North at Columbus East girls game being postponed.
The North girls are in quarantine through Saturday. Some of the Bull Dogs were exposed in a Dec. 5 game at Terre Haute South, which later had a girl test positive for COVID-19.
North can begin practicing on Monday. By IHSAA rule, teams that miss five to 10 practices have to make up six practices before they can play again, so the Bull Dogs’ Dec. 22 game at Jennings County also is postponed. North still is set to host its eight-team invitational Dec. 29-30.
The North boys basketball team also is in quarantine through Friday because a player from Shelbyville, the Bull Dogs’ opponent on Dec. 4, tested positive. That caused the postponement of Friday’s scheduled East at North game.
The North boys and girls freshmen teams still are able to practice and play.
Meanwhile, the East boys basketball is quarantining through Dec. 26. On Friday, the Olympians hosted Bedford North Lawrence, which had a player test positive, but since then, an East player also has tested positive.
The Olympians already had moved their game at Madison back to its original Feb. 19 slot. East is next scheduled to host Evansville Central on Dec. 30.
East athletics director Pete Huse and North athletics director Brian Lewis are working on potential makeup dates for their lost games, including the East-North girls and boys basketball contests.
“Brian and I keep passing dates back and forth,” Huse said. “Dates that do not work for Columbus East do not work for Columbus North, and dates that work for Columbus North do not work for Columbus East. This week has become quite challenging.”
The North at East wrestling meet, which originally was scheduled for Wednesday, was held last week. The Olympians still are hoping to find an opponent to wrestle on Wednesday.
Huse also is looking to replace some of the basketball games that have been postponed.
“We have to make sure the team we’re playing isn’t in red (Level on the state’s COVID dashboard),” Huse said. “What I’m doing is waiting until Wednesday and seeing what schools are in red and which ones aren’t. Then we can see who we actually can play, and that will allow us to look.”
