Smoke sends high school athletes indoors and postpones some events

Where there’s smoke, there’s scrambling.

Smoke from Southcentral Alaska wildfires forced Anchorage School District sports teams indoors Tuesday, and it could delay the start of the flag football season and require a new location for at least one tackle football game.

“It was crazy trying to reschedule everyone inside,” Dimond High activities director Kathleen Navarre said by text.

She said she was able to book practice time at The Dome for school’s flag football varsity and JV teams, but there wasn’t an opening for the boys football teams. Athletes who weren’t able to practice at The Dome found space to work out in Dimond’s gymnasiums and weight room, she said.

A handful of Cook Inlet Conference tennis meets and a cross-country meet scheduled to happen Tuesday were postponed, but so far no weekend competitions have been canceled, postponed or relocated. The flag football season is set to begin Thursday, and if the smoke is still bad Wednesday, Navarre said she’ll contact The Dome to see if the varsity games can be moved there.

“We’re preaching ‘error on the side of caution,’ and I’m sure that’s how most schools are thinking,” said Billy Strickland, the executive director of the Alaska School Activities Association. “We’ve got big fires on both sides of us. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Strickland said Southcentral football teams with games in Fairbanks can avoid the fire-plagued Parks Highway by using the Richardson Highway.

There are fires north of Anchorage near Willow and Deshka Landing and south of the city near Cooper Landing and Homer. Smoke has obscured visibility and prompted air quality warnings in Anchorage, spurring the school district’s decision to suspend outdoor activities on the first day of school Tuesday.

At Eagle River High School, it was the second straight day of indoor practice for the cross-country team because of the smoke.

“We have a short indoor track, and we've been doing aerobic circuit training with strength and balance work in between each set,” coach Jacob Bera said by email. “So not getting a lot of miles in, hopefully getting stronger, and certainly staying safe!”

The weekend event most likely to be impacted is Friday night’s football game between host Houston and visiting Eagle River.

Smoke from the fires north of Houston, kept the Hawks football team indoors Monday and Tuesday.

“If we can’t get outside (soon) to practice, we’ll bus them to Palmer,” athletic director Norm Bouchard said. “You’ve gotta get some contact in during the week, especially when you’re playing a bigger team like Eagle River.”

Bouchard said a decision on whether the game can be played in Houston will made by noon Thursday. If Houston is too smoky, Colony High might be an option. So might Eagle River High School or another high school in Anchorage “if smoke is not an issue there,” Bouchard said.

The Tsalteshi Invitational cross-country race is expected to happen as scheduled Saturday in Soldotna. Soldotna High sent participating schools a note from its school nurse reminding coaches to "make sure that all students have the necessary paperwork needed in order for them to be treated for emergencies. Any student with known respiratory issues, such as Asthma, allergies, or any other respiratory ailments (should) come prepared with their inhalers, Epi Pens and such.”

Meanwhile, Saturday’s popular Lost Lake Run in Seward is expected to go on as planned, race director Patrick Simpson of Anchorage said.

“I talked to folks in Seward yesterday, and Seward’s looking really good,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of smoke up here and thinking it’s like this everyone in the world and it’s not.

“I’m optimistic things will go as planned.”