The Big Sandy City Council met Monday night to vote on whether to move forward with the Big Sandy Barracudas’ request to hold a swim meet in Big Sandy on July 25-26th. Before the vote could take place, the Barracudas coach, Travis Baumann told the council that the team had decided that holding a meet here in town was not worth the risk of potentially exposing the community to Coronavirus. Three cases have been confirmed in Chouteau County as of the writing of this article. A fourth case would require that the swim meet attendees wear masks, per the governor’s mandate. The team board felt that this was not something they felt comfortable or capable of enforcing. Additionally, the teams that would have been invited have opted to compete in Shelby this weekend for the last meet of the season.
It’s been a disappointing run for the Barracudas this summer. While most of the team faithfully practiced for a season they never got, only two opportunities for competition materialized; one being the Barracudas-only meet held here earlier in June. The quarantined has affected the team in other ways, as 11 of our swimmers have been unable to attend practices due to quarantine restrictions in place on the Rocky Boys Reservation.
The team will finish their season this weekend in Shelby, where approximately half of the western division teams will attend.
