In southwestern Pennsylvania, it has become a standard that snow will be falling sometime into March. This year however, it has continued to fall into April and low temperatures have had a pretty significant impact on students and athletes in the area.

Waynesburg sports are no exception, as a lot spring sports have had to cancel several games, matches and meets due to the weather.

One of the most successful athletic programs in recent history for the spring season is women’s track & field. The Yellow Jackets have only been able to compete twice outdoors since the conclusion of the indoor season February 22.

According to head coach Michelle Cross, the weather this year has been quite surprising in terms of competing in inclement weather.

“This is the coldest spring I have ever seen,” said Cross. “At least that I have dealt with here, and that includes my four years competing and then my years coaching.”

Cross said that the part of the team that was impacted the most were the jumpers and sprinters.

The Yellow Jackets have had to shift practice times and location around because of the weather, and due to certain setbacks with facilities, they have not been able have the practices they need to have.

“We’ve had to have a lot of practices indoors,” said Cross. “And obviously because of certain facility restrictions, it’s not as quality of a practice as it could be if it was outdoors, so we are not able to do everything we want to do.”

The team has only attended two meets this outdoor season—one of which was run in the snow, and the other on Easter weekend.

The Yellow Jackets are scheduled for two more competitions before the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships April 25 and 26.

The first of the two meets are this weekend in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, hosted by Westminster College.

Cross said that this will be the last meet before conference championships where the entire team will attend.

“So, this is the last full chance for our relays and for people to bring their times down,” said Cross. “It’s also the second to third chance for a lot of them to even compete in their main event and I think it’s a meet that everyone is looking forward to, especially because the weather is going to be little bit warmer.”

The combination of the weather, and the stiff competition, bodes well for the Jackets this weekend. The forecast is set to be in the 70-degree range, and according to Cross, the Jackets are exiting their toughest stage of training.

“I actually think we are going to see a lot people kind of ‘pop off’ at Westminster,” said Cross. “We are coming into our peak week, which means we are coming off of lifting and beginning to back mileage down for training plus, with the irritation of weather and not being able to compete, I’m hoping that people are hungry to compete.”