As Greenhill sports entered their winter season at the start of the semester, the number of COVID-19 cases on campus had been going down, but due to the Omicron variant, there has been a surge in the number of cases on campus, ultimately leading to the cancellation of many sports practices.

One sport that has been affected is Swimming, which had to cancel practices due to COVID-19 concerns.

“A member of our team got [COVID] so we all had to get PCR tests so we couldn’t have practice for a couple of days,” said sophomore Alex Wetzler.

Although this cancellation of practices has been fairly recent, the effects have been long-term and consistent throughout the season.

“COVID has definitely slowed things down, and some of our meets have been canceled, so I would say it’s definitely affected our season,” Wetzler said.

Head Varsity Swimming Coach Patti Monzingo said she found it particularly difficult to proceed with practices as normal due to the aquatic nature of the sport.

“Although the close contact swimmers were allowed to come to school and participate in sports as long as they wore masks, wearing masks while swimming would create a whole different problem – drowning,” said Monzingo.

Junior Varsity Girls Basketball has also been affected by the rise of cases. The team has dealt with practices and games being canceled, teammates getting COVID-19 and having to quarantine.

“I think six people on the team have gotten COVID-19,” said freshman Chloe Nguyen.

Nguyen said the team has had to miss two practices because of team members testing positive. While there have been six confirmed players who have contracted COVID-19 this season, there have also been players that have had to quarantine due to close contact.

Games and practices have had to be canceled due to a lack of available players

“We would have had 12 or 14 games this season, but we have only had four,” said Nguyen.

Due to reduced practices and the loss of players, Nguyen said the team did not feel ready enough to play.

“We aren’t going to be as prepared for our games,” said Nguyen.

Swimming and Junior Varsity Girls Basketball practices have now been resumed.