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