VCC basketball seasons cancelled

by Tom Coombe
The gymnasium at Vermilion Community College will stay dark this winter, at least when it comes to the basketball season.
Vermilion, along with the rest of the teams in the north half of the Minnesota Community Athletic Conference, will not conduct men’s or women’s basketball seasons this winter.
The 2020-21 campaigns, which were to begin in November, were originally put on hold until January, but a rise in COVID-19 cases and associated issues related to the pandemic halted those plans.
The decision impacts about 15 students at the school, as well as additional students who were likely to enroll for second semester if the season was going to proceed.
“As so often in this COVID world, the student-athletes were incredibly disappointed when the season was cancelled,” said Nicki Kosik, athletic director and women’s basketball coach at VCC. “The flexibility that all of the athletes have shown during this time period is incredible. They genuinely just roll with the punches now.”
The MCAC scrapped most fall sports earlier in the year, decisions that cancelled the Vermilion football and volleyball seasons.
Basketball figured to face numerous challenges had it moved forward, ranging from travel to current bans on indoor gatherings, as well as current Minnesota Department of Health mandates requiring frequent COVID testing for collegiate athletes.
Only four MCAC schools planned to offer basketball this winter, all in the southern half of the conference, but it’s unclear if they will proceed in January.
Both VCC teams figured to rebuild this winter after difficult 2019-20 seasons.
Kosik was set to begin her second season in charge of the women’s basketball program, while Ely native Reed Petersen was returning to the sidelines for the Ironmen.
Petersen, who succeeded longtime head coach Paul McDonald last winter, guided VCC to a 6-16 record during his rookie campaign as head coach.
So far, trapshooting has been the only sport offered this year at Vermilion, but spring sports are moving forward as scheduled.
The Vermilion baseball and softball teams had their 2020 seasons cancelled because of the pandemic.
Baseball practice begins in February and the Ironmen hope to open the season in late-March, on artificial turf at Aurora.