Central Ohio has faced a lot, weather-wise, throughout this early 2026. Residents of Delaware County know that weather early in the year is usually unpredictable, as it is going through the transition of winter into spring. However, this transition period has been particularly rough.
Just the week of March 15-21 displayed rapid changes in temperatures, with the week starting off with 70°-60°F weather and then plummeting overnight to 26°F.
Meanwhile, here at Hayes, the season of spring sports has just kicked off and the outdoor sports teams have been forced to work around the unpredictable weather shifts. The worst of the conditions have been cold temperatures and storms, causing cancellations and delays to the teams’ schedules.
Both the girls’ lacrosse team and the track team have been forced to cancel events due to the weather being too cold to play in, with the track team cancelling a practice and the lacrosse team cancelling a game.
“We had to cancel our first game because that morning it was 27°F, but the feels-like was in the teens,” said Josh Van Gundy, head coach of the girls’ lacrosse team. “The field was actually snow-covered, so we couldn’t see any of the lines, and they [didn’t] have a way of cleaning it since it was [mostly] ice.”
However, if there is any way a day of work can still happen, a coach and their team will go for it. Despite the weather being uncomfortably cold to most, a lot of practices have still gone on.
“[For] sprints, we can adjust based on what the temperature is like,” head track coach Riley Jantz said. “So, if it’s really cold we probably won’t do as many explosive things, or as [much] hard running those days because there’s a higher injury risk. So we do more recovery related [things] on those days.”
Some of the teams are even lucky enough to get to practice inside, either in the main gym or the Pit (aux gym).
“[The weather] has forced us inside a few times,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve had to go to the Pit because it was thunderstorming [one day].”
The baseball and softball teams also have their own specific/respective indoor alternatives.
“If there’s some time [available in the gym], we go in there,” head softball coach Mark Thomas said. “We [also] have a hitting facility [that] we share with the baseball team, so we can go in there [too].”
Despite the various changes to players’ practice schedules, the Hayes athletes remain resilient and hard-working.
“The team morale has been really good,” Jantz said. “The weather always has the chance to impact how people are feeling at practice, but our senior [and junior] leaders have done a good job of keeping people motivated [and] keeping people excited to work, even if the weather is bad.”
Thanks to the combined effort and encouragement from the coaches and players, the spring sports teams are focused on having successful seasons, with or without fair weather.
