CIF Southern Section (CIF-SS) commissioner Rob Wigod spoke with KHTS Sports Director Wyatt Smith Monday morning to discuss a number of topics related to the ongoing impact of the coronavirus on high school sports.

The message at the CIF-SS office is clear as officials there continue to prepare for all the potential scenarios for high school sports to return: “all options are on the table.”

As of now, the traditional calendar for fall sports remains in place, but the CIF-SS office remains prepared to adjust the schedule as needed, according to Wigod.

“We’re just trying to make sure we have as many options available and are considering as many things as we can consider, but first and foremost is going to be the health and safety of our student-athletes,” said Wigod. “In all else that’s involved in high school athletics, we’re going to take the recommendations of the health authorities and the medical professionals who really do dictate where we’re going to go, but we’re prepared with any and all kind of different scenarios to deliver what everybody wants: fall, winter and spring sports in this coming school year.”

In addition to calendar changes, the possibility of some of the less contact-oriented sports such as golf or tennis to go ahead as scheduled while placing other sports on a delayed start has also been discussed.

While CIF-SS officials continue to plan, the final call of when student-athletes are allowed access to school facilities to return to practice will fall to local schools, school districts and private schools to determine for themselves, according to Wigod.

“In a section as large as ours, we cover a tremendously large geographic area,” Wigod said. “We have schools in the north in Santa Barbara, to the east in San Bernardino, to the south in Orange County, in the middle with Los Angeles County, where there are varying issues and varying recommendations that happen in those areas.”

As a result, another possibility that’s been considered at the CIF-SS office is a return to the sports season that does not include all members of the section.

“That’s not our ideal scenario, but there isn’t going to be a horn sounding and an all-clear where 100 percent of our programs will all return at the same time, it’s just not happening in that way,” Wigod said. 

Wigod estimated the minimum number of schools needed for a season to occur would be more than 50 percent, but probably closer to 60 percent.

In the event that there is a fall high school sports season and some form of attendance is allowed, spectators can likely expect to see social distancing measures to be in place, according to Wigod.

“I know there are better days ahead and we are staying focused and committed as we can to do what everybody wants: to have fall, winter and spring sports in 2020-2021, and so do we,” Wigod said. “With that in mind, we are doing everything we can that’s in our control to make sure that happens, we look forward to doing it and then looking back at all of this and knowing we were challenged like we’ve never been challenged before and we were able to overcome it and come through it better and I really believe we can and we will.”

KHTS Sports is your place for coverage on 2020 Santa Clarita high school sports and your Santa Clarita Dodgers. Find all the latest news and updates on your hometown schools here as they compete in the Foothill League, Heritage League, Western State Conference and GSAC.