Blizzards delay teams’ returns to campus

Home Sports Blizzards delay teams’ returns to campus

Winter storms across the nation last weekend left Hillsdale College sports teams stranded. The men’s and women’s basketball teams were delayed in the Upper Peninsula after their weekend games at Northern Michigan University, while  members of the track and field teams were held up in Boston for many days after the David Hemery Valentine Invite on Saturday.

The basketball teams headed up north on Wednesday for  games on Thursday and Saturday, and were set to leave right after their final game. Instead, snow delayed them from returning until Sunday evening.

Senior Chelsea Farrell, a center on the women’s basketball team, said that during her four years on the team, they have never been delayed by snow. The teams stayed in Marquette because major highways and the bridge were closed.

“On the way to our game the conditions were awful,” Farrell said in an email. “It was a white out and I am surprised our bus driver could even see the roads. Almost everything in town was closed because it was deemed a civil emergency. The snow was coming in sideways and even our big bus was sliding and having a hard time getting up hills.”

She also said that the delay did not affect the team’s routine, but it was weird to have free time without preparing for a game.

The blizzard and freezing 60-mph winds that chilled Boston caused the cancellation of flights for Hillsdale track and field athletes. The team, which planned to return Sunday morning, did not arrive until late Tuesday.

Junior Corinne Zehner, who runs sprints and hurdles for the women’s track team, said that she was not totally unprepared for the delay, because the same thing had happened to the team two years ago at the same meet. She said that the sleep cycle was affected more than anything because they needed more time in the morning to get around in the snow.

“Even just going five miles down the road can take an hour because you have to go either by the bus or train or walk,” she said.

She said that the team was still able to get in normal workouts and practices, but transportation around the city was a challenge in the weather, and cars were buried.

“I can honestly say it is probably one of the coldest things I’ve ever experienced, walking around the city,” Zehner said.