La Conner High head volleyball coach Suzanne Marble and her players will have to wait to pursue a rare state title three-peat.

The two-time defending champions will not defend their state 2B net crown until next spring under a modified high school sports schedule unveiled recently by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WIAA executive board has adopted a sports calendar divided into four seasons with moderate and higher-risk activities –volleyball, football, and soccer – pushed into early 2021.

Volleyball, football and 1B/2B soccer have been shifted into “Season 3,” with practices tentatively set to get under way in February.

The new format will result in four shorter sports seasons instead of the regular fall, winter, spring schedule.

Each season will be shorter by about 30 per cent. A 10-game football season will be seven games.

Season 1 is set to launch Sept. 7 with cross country and slow-pitch softball. Those two sports have also been designated as “alternative seasons,” which means they can compete in either Season 1 or Season 3.

Season 2, comprised of basketball, wrestling, cheerleading, boys’ swimming and diving, bowling and gymnastics, will start between Christmas and New Year’s.

Baseball, fast-pitch softball, track-and-field, golf, tennis, dance and drill team have been slotted in Season 4, starting in April.

Tweaking will continue as ongoing efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 are assessed.

“I am waiting for more information from the WIAA,” La Conner High Athletics Director Kathy Herrera said when the new sports format was announced last month. “As an AD, I have submitted many questions asking for clarity about practices and other issues.”

The WIAA executive board subsequently held a follow-up meeting July 28. At that time the board moved to start Season 2 practices a week earlier, on Dec. 28, than previously planned. That avoids overlap with Season 3, which features the traditional fall sports.

Among likely future topics to be addressed are how many spectators – if any – will be allowed to attend high school sports events in 2020-21 and ways fans could be socially distanced. And, WIAA policy states that certain COVID-19 benchmarks must be met for Season 1 to begin.

The path ahead could be quite fluid.

“At this point,” said Marble, who along with Lady Braves head basketball coach Scott Novak has led small group outdoor summer conditioning workouts at Whittaker Field, “there are so many unknowns.”

A main focus for La Conner athletes at those Whittaker Field training sessions has been on maintaining social distancing.

Novak noted his team members had last met in early March when La Conner capped a program best second place finish at the Girls’ 2B Hardwood Classic in Spokane. COVID-19 closed schools across the state two weeks later.

Both Marble and Novak said they were glad to finally meet again with their players after the lengthy hiatus. Under normal conditions, the volleyball and basketball teams would have participated in summer camps, games and tournaments.

New La Conner High head football coach Jeff Scoma said the revised sports schedule could benefit the Braves grid program.

“I’m happy the season was moved and not cancelled,” a relieved Scoma told the Weekly News. “In a way, looking at the positive side of things, this may give us an advantage by allowing us time to put in a new system.”