When the SGS varsity volleyball team was short several players for their first match of 2021, three soccer athletes stepped in to help!  Seniors Dana Mogensen, Cambrie Rickard and Zadie Rigsby traded their cleats for court shoes and suited up to help the Dragons compete at Liberty HS on Thursday, Feb. 18.  They not only helped the match to go on, but also allowed Liberty to celebrate Senior Night for their seniors.  The trio earned Dragons of the Week honors for stepping up to the challenge.  Well done!

After a week of delays due to snow, NE 2B competitions are back on track this week.  The girls soccer team plays matches at Northwest Christian on Feb. 23 and Davenport on Feb. 25 (no spectators allowed at either match), before a 1pm home game on Saturday, Feb. 27 vs Reardan.  (Home fans are limited to 4 per player; details to come.)

The volleyball teams have their first home matches on Thursday, Feb. 25 against Northwest Christian.  The JV game is at 5pm and the varsity game is at 6:30pm.  (Home fans are limited to 4 per player; details to come.)

The varsity and Middle School cross country teams will travel to Lewiston, ID on Saturday, Feb. 27 to run against Asotin on the Lewis & Clark State College course (no spectators allowed).  The boys soccer team will travel to Yakima to play Riverside Christian on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 2pm.  Visiting fans are okay with masks and following mandatory distance protocols.  See the new SGS Dragon Athletics website for updated times and locations.

UPDATE: The home Varsity Cross Country meet set for Saturday, Feb. 20 has been cancelled due to weather.

High school sports competitions finally begin this week!  The Girls JV Volleyball team opens play at Liberty HS at 5pm on Friday, Feb. 19, followed by the Girls Varsity Volleyball game vs Liberty at 6:30pm.  No visiting spectators will be allowed.  Then the Dragons host a league Varsity Cross Country meet at 11am and 1:30pm on Saturday, Feb. 20.  Home spectators are allowed; masks are mandatory.

"One benefit to being one of the last states to begin sports is we can lean heavily on the other state’s experiences to start things off as smoothly as possible," says Athletic Direct Ryan Peplinski.  The NE 2B league has decided to only allow home spectators, prioritizing parents first, at contests for the first week or two.  In order to get into a game, spectators will need to be on a pass list.  With capacity regulations, we are not able to allow everyone who may want to attend.  Teams are looking for statisticians, score keepers, clock operators, etc.  This will be open to both staff and parents.  Each away contest will also require game management from each school.  Our league will not be charging admission during the 2020-21 school year.  (To attend the parent-coach Zoom meeting at 6:30pm, Tuesday, Feb. 16, Go to This Link.  The meeting ID and passcode are on the Back to School Zoom Meeting Info PDF on the Parent Portal / Documents and Bulletins page under Athletic Documents.)

While athletics are moving forward in spite of COVID, this weekend's wintry weather has lead to several postponed soccer matches.  The Girls Soccer match at Davenport (originally set for Feb. 18) has been rescheduled for 3pm on Thursday, Feb. 25.  The Boys Soccer match at Prescott (originally set for Feb. 20) has been rescheduled for 1pm on Saturday, March 13.  Both fields were too deep in snow for the games to go on -- just one of the hazards of fall sports in February!

The SGS volleyball team practiced digging out spiked balls in ESAC Gym in preparation for their first league matches in mid-February.  See a Photo Gallery of them getting in shape and preparing for their delayed season.

While grades 8-11 were taking the PSAT on Jan. 26, the 6th and 7th graders enjoyed Dragon Fun Day activities including Nordic ski races on the soccer field, a pickleball tournament in ESAC, and a Virtual Game that combined distance learning and in-person students.  See photo galleries of their Pickleball Tournament and the Virtual Game.

SGS 11th grader Patrick McCarthy played in junior golf tournaments in Texas and Arizona in January.  The weekend of Jan. 23-24 he played a two-day tournament at Trails of Frisco Golf Club, finishing 14th out of 45 players.  He had seven birdies, reports SGS golf coach Brad Kirsch, "shooting 80-77 on a course that is 7,000 yards in length, which is crazy long for his age group."  The following weekend he played a Junior Golf Association of Arizona tournament at Raven Golf Club in Phoenix.  On another long course, he earned his first piece of hardware -- a 3rd place trophy shooting 77-76.  Patrick stayed engaged with his classes through Distance Learning while gaining valuable experience on long courses.  Congratulations, Patrick!

While grades 8-11 are taking the PSAT on Jan. 26, the 6th and 7th graders enjoyed Dragon Fun Day activities including Nordic ski races on the soccer field, a pickleball tournament in ESAC, and a Virtual Game that combined distance learning and in-person students.  See a Photo Gallery of the Nordic ski games.

Cross country, volleyball, and boys' and girls' soccer will all begin practices on Wednesday, Feb. 10 as Saint George's starts up fall sports in February!  The first matches for each team will be Saturday, Feb. 20, although no spectators will be allowed at those games (not even cars in the parking lot).  The school will work on setting up live streams of the contests, so you can cheer on your Dragons from the safety of your own home.  If any athletes have questions about whether their sports physical is up to date, contact Athletic Director Ryan Peplinski.  

As SGS COVID Coordinator, Ryan reminds everyone that athletic teams will be treated like classes for COVID issues, so two positive cases on a team will put the entire team into a 14-day quarantine.  The biggest threat of exposure is in informal gatherings after matches are done, so please avoid actions that may jeopardize a team's ability to compete!

After school practices will be available for Upper School student-athletes on Wednesday, Jan. 27 and Thursday, Jan. 28.  After consultation with the WIAA, look for more information coming out this week about starting dates for different sports teams.