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

