11
Thursday, July 30, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTS
Four sports shut down voluntary workouts due to COVID-19
Less
than
a
week
after
Michigan State football halted
its practices and went into a
14-day
quarantine,
Michigan
is pausing voluntary workouts
for
ice
hockey,
volleyball,
swimming and diving and field
hockey, an athletic department
spokesperson told The Daily.
Workouts have been paused
because of both positive COVID-
19
test
results
and
contact
tracing, according to a statement
sent by the athletic department.
The hockey team will resume
workouts this week, with other
programs scheduled to resume
the week of August 3.
The University’s latest release
last week revealed that 12 of 559
student-athlete
tests
returned
positive, and just one of 170 staff
members tested positive. Men’s
and
women’s
basketball
and
football have been on campus
since mid-June, and their low test
rates have not forced a shut down
of activities.
“I would feel good with the
medical oversight of the students,
student athletes,” football coach
Jim Harbaugh said on a Zoom
call with media in early July. “I
would want the responsibility. I
would want the responsibility of
keeping our players safe and also
educating them. I would not want
to come off of that guard tower
of educating and keeping our
players safe.
“Now, if it comes to a point in
time where you say that we can’t
play, it’s obvious, it’s clear, then
everybody would be reasonable
and know that was the right
thing to do. COVID is part of our
society. Wasn’t caused by football
or caused by sports. And there’s
no expert view right now that I’m
aware of that sports is going to
make that worse. It’s part of our
society, we’re going to have to
deal with it.”
A spokesperson for the football
program confirmed the team is
moving as scheduled as of now.
The NCAA is currently allowing
20-hour practice weeks, split up
by up to eight hours for weight
lifting and conditioning, up to six
hours for walkthrough practices
and up to six hours for team
meetings. Helmets and pads are
not yet allowed.
As for the sports whose training
has been stopped, this isn’t a
death knell for anyone’s season.
But, like every other program in
the country that’s needed to stop
workouts, it highlights just how
hard a season will be to pull off.
As of now, the Big Ten is trying
to do so by playing a conference-
only schedule for fall sports.
What those plans will look like
two weeks — or one month —
from now is anyone’s guess.
“That whole process is going
about as smooth as it could,
but there’ll be a lot of hiccups,”
volleyball coach Mark Rosen
told The Daily in an interview
last week. “One of the things I’ve
learned through this process is
that you have to be flexible and
you have to understand that
things are going to change. They
literally change by the minute
almost.
“We know our plans might get
blown up any minute. We have to
be ready for that.”
Daniel Dash, Kent Schwartz,
Alex Harring and Bailey Johnson
contributed to the reporting of this
story.
ETHAN SEARS
Managing Sports Editor
ALEC COHEN/Daily
The Michigan hockey team was among programs whose workouts shut down due to COVID-19 testing and tracing.
Former Wolverine Morgan Overaitis transfers to Virginia Tech
Back in April, just a month after
Michigan softball lost their season
to COVID-19, the Wolverines also
lost former No. 18 FloSoftball
prospect Morgan Overaitis to the
transfer portal.
Overaitis made the decision to
transfer to Virginia Tech after
her sophomore year and will be
immediately eligible to play after
enrolling in classes this fall.
This spring, Overaitis started 14
games and appeared in 20, splitting
time between right field, second
base and designated player. In her
freshman season, she started just
nine games, hitting at a .255 clip.
From
Canton,
Michigan,
Overaitis was a stud in high school.
She was awarded Softball Player
of the Year by the Detroit Free
Press in 2018 and was a four-time
All-State
first-teamer,
earning
her a spot amongst the nation’s
best prospects. At Salem High
School, Overaitis holds the school
record of 38 home runs with 223
RBI, all while posting a .586
batting average and .643 on-base
percentage.
At
Michigan,
however,
Overaitis’ skills were slow to
translate and resulted in less
playing time than what might be
expected based on her high school
career. Her .265 batting average
across two seasons, accompanied
by lowly slugging percentages of
.333 and .319 in her freshman and
sophomore years.
Fellow sophomore Lexie Blair,
who came in as FloSoftball’s
28th-ranked player, claimed her
role in the lineup with her .406
batting average her freshman
year. In Blair’s sophomore year,
she hit .307 despite early-season
struggles. The result for Blair is 81
games started across two seasons,
58 more than Overaitis. With
competition like Blair, Overaitis
was never able to find a consistent
spot in the starting lineup.
By leaving Michigan to become
a Hokie, Overaitis may find a fresh
start and a more comfortable
location to prove herself worthy of
that No. 18 ranking.
KELSEY PEASE/Daily
Incoming junior Morgan Overaitis is set to become a Hokie next spring following her transfer to Virginia Tech.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor