Runners from the dual cross country meet between Brother Rice and Marist loop back to pass by the stands at the football stadium where family members were allowed to watch the race from, Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown).
Despite all the news that has been going on this year I haven’t been on a newspaper assignment since March 11th
As the gym emptied out after a sectional semifinal basketball game between Homewood-Flossmoor and Thornton high schools, I walked to the top of the bleachers at Bloom Township’s gym to take a photo. I wanted to document what I thought could be the last basketball game for a while as the season looked like it might be postponed. The NBA had just put their season on hold because of Covid and the rest of the country looked like it was on pace for that too. No one at the time knew, but it would be the final game for every senior on that team and worse yet, spring sports like baseball, softball, & track wouldn’t even get a first game of their senior season, at least not in Illinois.
Daily Southtown sports reporter Pat Disabato, and two members of the Bloom Township cleaning crew were all that were left after what would end up being one of the last high school basketball games, or sporting event of any kind for the class of 2020 in Illinois. March, 11th 2020.
Today for the first time in 171 days I was actually on assignment for one of the news publications I typically shoot for. It was a bit of an odd feeling as I was shooting a cross country meet that was taking place around a football field the day after what should have been the first night of high school football in Illinois.
Socially distanced from the race, Mary Kate (l to r) and her parents Christina & Terry Walsh, spectated from the football stands as their son Charlie Walsh and the rest of the Brother Rice and Marist sophomore cross country runners competed in a dual meet at Marist, Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown).Marist’s Jake Phillips runs down the sidelines, but during a cross country race a day after what should have been the school’s first high school football game of the season. Parents and family members spaced out and wearing masks sat in the stands as the dual cross country meet between Brother Rice and Marist passed by three times during the course of the race, Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown).The start of the varsity cross country meet between Brother Rice and Marist took place on the football field at Marist, Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown).Marist’s Jake Phillips was the top finisher at the dual cross country meet between Brother Rice and Marist, Saturday, August 29, 2020, in Chicago. (Vincent D. Johnson / Daily Southtown).
