Peter Dindinger – NMMI Sports Press

It was just like any other normal day on March 12 until news broke out across the nation that the NCAA had announced its cancellation of spring sports for the remainder of the academic year, which included March Madness.

The ripple effect trickled down to the NJCAA which caused the organization to do the same on March 16.

Just a few weeks after on March 27 the New Mexico Activities Association followed suit and decided to put an end to spring sports and activities throughout the state.

Coaches had high hopes for the spring, players were looking forward to competing and getting a chance to earn a postseason berth.

Now all those dreams are gone as the coronavirus pandemic creates a burden on everyday life.

At the high school level, seniors were expecting to end their seasons with a bang and now they won't be able to get that year of eligibility back.

For the New Mexico Military Institute Colt baseball team, their season had just begun as they were 3-0 heading into the much anticipated Hal Bogle tourney in Dexter.

"There's a bigger picture in life that's a lot more important than sports," said NMMI Colt baseball coach Charlie Ward. "I'm very sad. I'm disappointed as a coach, but I hurt for all athletes across the country, especially our seniors.

"We enjoyed this group that was on the Colt baseball team. I feel for them not getting a chance to compete, but I also feel for the assistant coaches I had. It's the whole picture. It's hard to talk about."

Many Colt programs did not even get a chance to begin their season. Golf was slated to start on March 19 by hosting the Alien 8 while the track program was slated to begin the season March 28 after having their opening meet rained out in Carlsbad.

Colt tennis was surging ahead on the boys' side while the girls were improving day by day, looking forward to the start of district.

There's still a lot of uncertainty as to how long the standstill will go on for in the world of sports.

"Right now is an important time to be safe and follow the rules," Ward said. "This is scary. We may not even see major league sports for a long time. I hope to see normalcy by next fall."

At the junior college level, there's still plenty of questions that have to be answered.

The NCAA announced Monday, March 30, that spring sport athletes were given an additional season of competition and an extension of eligibility.

That move has trickled down to the NJCAA level, but that leaves the important scenario of scholarship availability.

"It does hurt the recruiting side," said Bronco baseball coach Chris Cook. "If some of my sophomores decide to come back to the institute that impacts my scholarship budget if they were on scholarship.

"That puts me into kind of a limbo situation. We're gonna honor every scholarship signed by incoming kids and our current freshmen. I'm not comfortable enough to promise them a renewal on their scholarship until I get word. It does put us in a weird spot. It's the same boat a lot of schools are in."

The Broncos had gone 14-10 before the abrupt end came when they were four games into conference play.

NMMI was scheduled to play a unique doubleheader without fans against Howard College starting March 14 at home, but the series did not happen.

"We played a tough schedule," Cook added. "The only gripe I have about the shortened spring was just our last four games. We just got really outplayed and we were really looking forward to getting back on the field to get that taste out of our mouth.

"In the end it really doesn't mean anything. We had a chance to put ourselves in the mix to compete for one of the four slots in our conference to head to a regional."

Bronco golf was actively searching for players to help strengthen the season under first-year head coach Zachary Blair.

As for the Bronco tennis squads, head coach Mitch Vechione was entering his first season at the helm.

The team had just wrapped up a dual in Oklahoma City and was in route to Dallas for another competition before being told to come back.

"It was tough when I heard the news. I came into the season late and I felt like my team was turning a corner," said Vechione. "My girls had just gotten above .500 and my boys were getting some solid wins. So that definitely hurt."

"That was definitely rough on the kids. They had been working so hard."

With plenty of uncertainty still floating around, coaches are still optimistic about sports returning to normalcy in the fall.