EAU CLAIRE (WQOW) – Walking outside the high school Wednesday afternoon, you could see five Eau Claire North sports teams practicing within a few hundred yards of each other.
The softball, baseball and track and field teams are in their first week of full practices. The football and boys soccer teams are nearing the end of their alternate fall seasons.
Overlapping schedules is not a new concept in high school sports, nor is having athletes split time between sports. This year, however, is the first time fall and spring sports are sharing athletes.
Huskies track and field coach Adam Sturgis held a meeting with his multi-sport athletes and instructed them to focus on the fall sports first.
“I just want them to be present with the now. It’s such a short season for both the fall sports and the spring sports, I really wanted them to just embrace that time they have with their team.”
North senior Joshua Jahn, who scored his first goal of the boys soccer season on Tuesday, will transition to track next month. He’s appreciative for the opportunity to play both sports this spring.
“I was kind of worried that we weren’t going to get a season at all,” he said.
Jahn said the conditioning from soccer should help his transition to track, where he’s a sprinter.
North’s first meet of the season is currently scheduled for May 7. Sturgis said Big Rivers Conference competitions will feature three or four teams to comply with COVID-19 protocols.