The outside of the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex. The NCAA granted spring athletes another year of eligibility following cancellations due to COVID-19. (TommieMedia file photo)
Some St. Thomas senior athletes have questioned the viability of using the extended eligibility granted to all spring athletes by the NCAA.
While spring athletes’ eligibility was extended, the committee, formed from the Management and President Councils of the division did not extend winter athletes eligibility because most regular seasons were completed by the time COVID-19 caused cancellations, according to NCAA spokesperson Jeremy Villanueva.
“The Administrative Committee did not take action on student-athletes in winter sports. Division I and Division II also declined to extend eligibility for winter sports,” Villanueva said in an email.
Senior Thomas Madison drives to the basket in a 2020 game against Concordia-Moorhead. (Carly Noble/TommieMedia)
Although most regular seasons had been completed, many athletes were in the midst of postseason tournaments, such as St. Thomas men’s basketball senior Thomas Madison.
“We beat Platteville in the round of 32,” Madison said. “So we were ecstatic to win that game and advance to the Sweet Sixteen to play the Johnnies.”
Due to the novel coronavirus, Madison’s season was cut short.
“Obviously I never expected to end my senior year with a global pandemic shutting down our season,” Madison said. “It’s just really disappointing that you don’t get to finish it out; you don’t get to finish what you started.”
Madison said, even if his eligibility was extended, he probably would not have utilized it.
“I’ve got a job lined up,” Madison said. “The other thing was, this team that I was on was like the closest group of guys I’ve ever been a part of, so it would have been hard to beat this group.”
According to Villanueva’s email, eligibility was extended to spring athletes because most “weren’t able to have a full and meaningful participation due to the cancellation of their seasons.”
Senior Molly Clarke running the 3K during the Ted Nelson Classic at Mankato in 2020. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Wachter)
“This provides the option for those student-athletes to engage in four seasons of participation, if feasible for their circumstances,” Villanueva wrote.
Senior Molly Clarke, a multi-sport athlete, runs cross country in the fall, indoor track and field in the winter and outdoor track and field in the spring. She said using the extended eligibility is not feasible for her.
“I’m graduating,” Clarke said. “So it just doesn’t work out.”
Clarke, who has been running competitively since middle school, said it has been difficult to have her college athletics career curtailed.
“I already kind of felt that it was bittersweet, because it was my last season,” Clarke said. “Then to just have it completely pulled out from under the rug was just really hard.”
Spring athletes, such as St. Thomas men’s golf senior Ben Kisla, have made a similar decision about using the extended eligibility.
Senior Ben Kisla playing at Pioneer Creek Golf Course in the fall of 2019. (Photo courtesy of Eugene McGivern)
“I made that decision last week or two weeks ago that I’m not going to be using my eligibility in the fall,” Kisla said.
Kisla said financial reasons such as paying for rent, deterred him from using his extended eligibility.
Kisla also believed that his time in college athletics had run its course.
“I’m pursuing a career in aviation after college anyways, and I might as well get on with that,” Kisla said. “It’s time for the team to have a new identity.”
Although Kisla has decided to move on from college athletics, the cancellation of his final season due to the pandemic was “a stab in the stomach.”
“We were the only team to qualify for nationals at this point. And being a senior, you want to go out and win that national championship, or at least a run one last time,” Kisla said. “But some things are bigger than sports.”
Burke Spizale can be reached at spiz8477@stthomas.edu.