St. Louis is experiencing a historic heat wave, in which heat indexes have been tied for the fourth highest in St. Louis history, according to the STL Post Dispatch. This has led Lafayette activities to modify practice schedules, due to MSHSAA heat guidelines.
“Based on the Wet Bulb Globe Thermometer, which our athletic trainer uses, and based on humidity, temperature and other variables, [MSHSAA] has exact guidelines that go with the temperature readings, ” Activities Director Jonathan Sumner said.
All outdoor activities are canceled if the WBGT reads 92 degrees or above. However, teams have found ways around this rule and to keep practicing.
“We’ve had some teams go in the morning, we’ve got some teams going in the evening. A lot of teams are transitioning to indoor practices as well. It’s up to each program and they’ve all kinda adapted to try to get a day or two outside,” Sumner said.
Football is one of the programs changing practice schedules.
“For practices, we have moved it from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. to now 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. to try to account for the heat. When we are inside we try to condition hard enough to make the heat less of a factor for the game Friday,” senior Gavin Shelton said.
With the heat advisory scheduled to end at 10 p.m. on Aug. 25, there are concerns about heat preventing the Lancer’s football season opener against Marquette, also on Aug. 25, from occurring. However, Sumner said he would not cancel the football opener.
“We wouldn’t cancel the game, we just would start the game a little later in the night, whenever it cools down a little. The plan is to start at 7 p.m. but we could push it back to 7:30 or 8 p.m. if we need to,” Sumner said.
It’s too premature to push back the game right now, but it will be determined once the forecast is more accurate.
“We’ll look Thursday and evaluate [the start time] when we have a closer estimate of the forecast,” Sumner said.
Shelton believes that the change in start time could affect the team’s performance.
“I’m not 100% sure if they are going to move our game back. If they do, it’ll help and hurt at the same time, because mentally it’s hard to wait five hours after school for a game you have been preparing for all week.”
Despite their practice limitations, Shelton and his team are prepared for their season opener.
“The heat has been a big challenge for this week but we will be ready for Friday when it comes around.”
Update: As of August 24, the Lancers home season opener against Marquette has been delayed to 7:30 p.m.
