Park City teams unlikely to play unless school opens

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 this spring.

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 this morning at 10:30 a.m.

However, it seems unlikely that Park City High's teams will be allowed to play if their 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.

It's unclear at this point whether PCSD would even be willing or able to consider opening its school before next week.

If it doesn't, it will be a crushing blow to Park City High's spring athletic teams, who have been agonizingly waiting for a decision over the past week.

In particular, it would likely mean that Park City's boys soccer team won't be able to defend its 3A championship.

"If this is what's happening," Park City soccer coach Caro Caro said late Monday of not being able to play, "my answer would be, 'Oh boy.' Who do I blame this on? Our school? The school district? The board of education? I can't do that. I have to respect what they've done, but now that we know a little bit about the 'epidemic,' why are we waiting until Monday to open up the schools?"

That's a question people up and down the state will be asking.

The UHSAA 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.