As the usual school routine becomes restored after weeks of extreme weather, sophomore basketball player Will Kietzmann said the snow cancellations caused the end of the season to become very busy.

“We had our Cooper game rescheduled,” Kietzmann said. “It was ok but it kind of affected us playing three games in one week because it got rescheduled.”

According to athletic director Andy Ewald, numerous practices and events have been canceled for winter sports due to extreme winter conditions.  

“We’ve had events at night where we could have played but the other school we were going to compete against weren’t able to make it because of the weather,” Ewald said. “We’ve had some practices that have been canceled because of early releases or not having school on certain days so it has affected it across the board.”

According to freshman Nordic skier Victoria Schmelzle, their conference meet was canceled and never rescheduled due to the polar vortex.

“In the beginning of the year we had cancellations because it was not enough snow and recently we had to cancel our conference meet so we didn’t get to have a varsity conference meet because it was too cold and schools were not able to attend,” Schmelzle said.

Sophomore gymnast Rachel Stein said in addition to canceling events, the weather impacted the way their meet against St. Anthony was conducted.

“They were an hour late and we had to start competing because when the judges get there you have to start,” Stein said. “We started competing while they were warming up on the events. So, they were warming up on beam and floor while we were doing bars and vault. It was really weird and odd and the whole competition was kind of a mess.”

According to Ewald, these scheduling changes are not unique to Park, having occurred across the metro in consideration of the weather.

“Other than the Nordic conference championship meet, everything that got postponed has been rescheduled and has been completed,” Ewald said.

Likewise, according to senior Quiz Bowl member Will Staib, one of the Quiz Bowl tournaments was postponed. Staib said the competition was scheduled to be played Feb. 8 at Armstrong High School, but Armstrong was unable to host because all Robbinsdale schools were not in session that day.

“We did have the tournament cancelled on last Friday but it’s getting rescheduled to in two weeks on Friday so that’s going to be fine,” Staib said. “I was a little bit disappointed but I figured out it was rescheduled on another date and that date still works so I’m not too mad about it.”

According to District communications director Sara Thompson, other after school activities impacted by the weather were drivers education and College Possible.

Schmelzle said she was disappointed at losing the opportunity to compete in her first conference race.

“I was mad about it because I was pumped to do first conference race so I was kind of bummed that I didn’t get to do that but I was glad that I got to go to Sections,” Schmelzle said.

According to Ewald, the athletic department always errs on the side of caution, when making such decisions, with the safety of the athletes in mind.

“We got the contests in and it just made things a little bit more difficult in terms of scheduling but at the end of the day, keeping everybody safe has got to be the first and foremost thing,” Ewald said.

Stein said the additional time off allowed her to recover from athletic injuries.

“I had shin splints throughout the season and having those days off has really helped me be stronger when I do have practice,” Stein said.