Kane County meet left in limbo
Chad Hillman could not mask his disappointment.
"We have been working on this meet for two weeks," the Batavia girls track and field coach said.
Batavia was to host the 15-team Kane County meet Friday night as it pursued a fourth consecutive title. But the status of the meet is unknown after Batavia High School, acting in concert with county, state and federal health agencies, shut down all activities until Monday in the wake of a probable case of the swine flu.
"We just got the word late this afternoon," Hillman said of the decision to close the school for three days.
Geneva coach Peter Raak is orchestrating a last-ditch effort to salvage elements of the highly-anticipated meet.
"You can't put together a meet like that in a day," Raak said.
Raak has extended invitations to all the schools in the county - Batavia cannot compete in any sport until Monday at the earliest - for an informal time-trial-type event.
"I asked my AD, Jim Kafer, and he was all in favor of it," Raak said.
St. Charles East was the lone school to commit thus far, Raak added.
Hillman had originally hoped to re-schedule the meet for Tuesday, but conflicts with the schools' conference championships precluded the possibility.