High school sports: Park City teams unlikely to be allowed to participate

MIDVALE — Unless Summit County health officials allow Park City High to re-open before next week, it's unlikely that the school's athletic teams will be allowed to participate in their respective 3A tournaments.

The 3A members of the UHSAA's executive committee met for several hours Monday evening before coming to a final decision over the fate of Park City's teams, but they refused to divulge any information about decisions afterward. The UHSAA says it will announce any accommodations at a press conference Tuesday morning at 10:30 a.m.

However, it seems unlikely that Park City High's teams will be allowed to play if its school isn't re-opened at some point this week.

Park City superintendent Ray Timothy met with UHSAA staff and other 3A principals Monday evening and asked the association to do what it could to allow Park City's teams to be able to play despite the fact that its school is closed for the week. However, while it appears the UHSAA could delay some of its 3A tournaments by a couple of days, major schedule changes don't seem to be a possibility.

""Ray Timothy asked the association to attempt to accommodate their school closing," said UHSAA attorney Mark Van Wagoner.

The association addresses any kind of schedule or site change in state tournament play. The difficulty facing UHSAA officials is that there are a number of variables, including whether or not other school districts close in the future.

"There is an enormous amount of uncertainty," Van Wagoner said. "The association is attempting to see if it can accommodate the problems caused by the Park City District closing (without) not knowing whether other problems will come up at other schools."

Following the announcement that one of its students had been infected with the H1N1 virus, the PCSD announced last Saturday that all eight of its schools would remain closed through at least through Sunday, May 10.

The decision to close the Park City schools was made by the County's Board of Health, Van Wagoner said.

"The State Office of Education says that when schools are closed, that means nothing can occur (such as activities) while the school is closed," said Van Wagoner. "The UHSAA is just trying to see if it can accommodate the issues arising from Park City's closure. Park City's inability to participate in sanctioned activities is the result of the county's decision, not the result of anything the association has done."

Van Wagoner said that if it is possible to accommodate Park City by delaying games a few days, then that might happen. But ultimately, in order for Park City to participate in the playoffs, the county will need to allow the school to re-open or the state office of education will have to allow some activities.

The fate of Judge Memorial's athletic teams and their participation was not discussed by the UHSAA on Monday.

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