By Sam Dumas, contributing writer, St. Bonaventure men’s track and field athlete
Throughout high school, I have always dreamed of competing for an NCAA Division 1 track and field team. I worked every day in order to realize this dream. Now being at St. Bonaventure University, and having already completed my first NCAA Division 1 cross country and indoor track seasons, my heart was set on having an outdoor track season to remember. Days with two or more workouts, 2-hour-long runs on the treadmill, and waking up at 4:30 in the morning simply to log the miles necessary to continue improving. I had high hopes of a high finish at the Atlantic 10 Outdoor Track Championships. Learning that the spring seasons had been cancelled, it crushed me. Knowing that all of my hard work had gone to waste. Knowing I would be having to wait until the fall to don the Gray and Brown of Bonaventure on the cross country course, and more than a year until my next outdoor track and field meet. I feel as though the decision to cancel the spring athletic competitions was the wrong one; a decision made in the heat of the moment and simply following suit with what has happened with the winter seasons. Being a political science major, I tend to constantly think of alternatives to polices of which are being implemented around me and I do believe there were many better options than simply cancelling every single competition months before the championships are to be held. Who is to say that the virus will not be contained by the time the championships rolled around? Nobody will know until it happens, I guess. As I am heartbroken, I am sure that every single athlete on this campus, and beyond, also feel the exact same way about having their season (maybe their first or maybe their last) stripped from their grasp before the first week has even begun and after all of the hard work and endless hours of perfecting their craft. I believe that the Atlantic 10 conference and the NCAA truly do have some reparations to be made following this brash decision.
dumassk19@bonaventure.edu
