MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The beginning of March was not the best for WVU rifle coach Jon Hammond.
Leading up to the NCAA tournament, set for March 13-14, Hammond came down with the flu — confirmed as Type A flu by his doctors — that not only affected him, but his kids, as well. The Mountaineers were once again of the top squads in the country, so getting healthy in time for NCAAs was critical
The team made the trip March 11 to Lexington, Ky., without Hammond, while he recovered from the flu. However, news began to circulate that the NCAA was set to cancel all championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and unfortunately for Hammond and WVU, the timing could not have been worse with the championships set to begin just two days later.
“I was still literally in my bed at home when I started getting a few texts,” Hammond said. “I saw on Twitter that the NCAA had canceled all championships. I got in touch with Soren (Butler), our assistant coach, and they said everything was good. We went back and forth with officials down there, and then we finally got the word they canceled the championship.”
Rifle is naturally performed with the social distancing recommendation of six feet apart, so in the heat of the moment, Hammond believed the championship could have been completed in a day. In the end, the health of the everyone was made a priority, so Hammond ultimately understood the decision.
Unlike spring sports, winter athletes did not receive an extra year of eligibility, despite missing out on their championship tournaments. For the rifle team, it prematurely ended the careers of Morgan Phillips and Milica Babic.
Babic, a Serbia native, also had to make a decision on whether to go home or stay in Morgantown. She returned to Serbia, but eventually came back to Morgantown due to concerns over the future.
“She actually had a few worries of not being able to get back in August,” Hammond said. “She’s going to be starting grad school at WVU. From what she told me, the situation in Serbia isn’t really the best and she was more concerned about getting back and getting through everything.”
Three others — Verena Zaisberger (Austria), Akihito Shimizu (Japan) and David Koenders (Germany) — made it back to their home countries.
Coronavirus wiped out not only the NCAA rifle championships, but also most of the international competitions scheduled for this summer, including the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was supposed to take place July-August in Tokyo.
However, Hammond is optimistic about next rifle season beginning on time this fall. Time, though, is a factor.
“Our schedule mirrors basketball, so we know if basketball is OK, we’ll be OK,” he said. “We have a lot of flexibility in terms of there not being massive crowds, there’s social distancing in how we set up the competitions. Even at practice, we want to have team practices, but they have the flexibility to come in at different times.
“There are plenty of things that we can be prudent and think ahead about. We can be flexible if we need to be. Hopefully, that’s an advantage for us, and we’ll just have to wait and see.”
