By Frank Rajkowski, SJU Writer/Video Producer

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - In a span of just over 24 hours last week, Lucas Walford and his teammates on the Saint John's University basketball team went from preparing to host an archrival before a sold-out crowd in the third round (Sweet 16) of the NCAA Division III tournament to facing the sudden realization that their season – and, in the case of Walford and his fellow seniors, their collegiate athletic careers – had come to an end.

That was how fast things moved as the NCAA and the rest of American society took drastic steps to combat the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's been difficult to process," said Walford, whose team ended the prematurely-shortened season ranked No. 2 in the nation in the final D3hoops.com poll.

"We all know something had to be done. No one wants to see anyone else get sick. So it was understandable. But it was still kind of a shock. We were having maybe the best year in the history of the program and suddenly it's over.

Walford and his team boasted a 27-2 record, already tying the single-season school record for victories. And the Johnnies had just beaten Ripon (Wisconsin) and Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament March 6-7 at Sexton Arena.

That set up a third-round matchup with MIAC foe St. Thomas (26-3), which had been scheduled for March 14 in Collegeville. Saint John's was 2-1 against the Tommies in three previous matchups this season. 

And tickets to Round 4 sold out minutes after they were put on sale early in the afternoon of March 11.

Hours later, however, in the face of numbers showing the rising spread of coronavirus in the U.S., the NCAA announced first that all of its upcoming championship events at every level – including Division III – would be played without crowds in attendance.

By the next day, that announcement was superseded by another declaring the competitions would be cancelled in the service of public health concerns.

And just like that, one of the most successful basketball seasons in school history was over. 

That was followed by news the next day that SJU and the College of Saint Benedict – like most colleges and universities across the nation – were suspending in-person classes for the time being and students were to leave campus.

"There was a lot more we wanted to accomplish and we wanted to see what would happen next," Walford said. "But obviously, this is way bigger than sports right now."

Already on the road

Walford and his teammates were home in Collegeville when they got the news. 

Other SJU winter student-athletes were already at locations across the country preparing to begin their national meets.

That was the case with senior wrestler Noah Becker, who after two-straight seasons in which injuries kept him from advancing to the Division III national meet, had finally gotten back over the hump for the first time since he was a freshman.

He was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the site of the national competition, when the NCAA announcement was handed down on March 12. The tournament had been scheduled to begin the following day.

"Coach (Kevin) Schiltz had just gone to a meeting where they were talking about fans not allowed to be there and how that was going to work," recalls Becker, who was seeded third at 133 pounds. "He came back to the hotel and was talking to us about that when he got another text saying the tournament was cancelled effective immediately.

"So we had to let that settle in for a bit, then we packed up our stuff and came home. There was a lot of emotion with all the coaches and the guys who had come down to cheer me on. I just had to go for a short walk to really think things through. 

"It felt so surreal. But we're all in the same boat as a society right now."

Senior triple jumper Collin Trout, meanwhile, was one of five SJU student-athletes already in Winston-Salem, N.C., preparing for the start of the Division III indoor track and field championships when he heard the news.

The jolt was followed by subsequent announcements by both the NCAA and MIAC cancelling spring sport competitions and championships (including outdoor track and field) as well.

"I was hanging out with the other Johnnies who had made it (to nationals)," Trout said. "We were sitting in our hotel room and we first found out the meet was cancelled when we saw the post from the NCAA on Twitter."

After checking around to confirm the news, he said the realization of what had happened finally set in.

"It was so crazy because I had been there earlier in the day running on the same part of the track where I was scheduled to begin jumping the next day," Trout said. "So that was the hardest part – hearing the news just hours after I was standing on the spot I worked so hard to get to.

"It was a bummer. But honestly, I really feel worse for some of the other senior athletes. Lucas, Jubie (Alade), Ethan Novacinski – the guys on the basketball team. And for Noah. They were all in such a solid position to not only compete, but win. They worked so hard to get where they were at. And I understand completely how they feel. 

"And then for the whole baseball team, who had gotten off to such an amazing start, and the tennis team which had such high aspirations. Now their seasons are over too."

The Johnnie golf team was also nationally ranked (No. 20) and had a good shot at earning its 17th berth in the Division III national meet in the past 20 years this spring.

Freshman diver Jack Grabinski, meanwhile, had also qualified for the Division III national meet in his sport. The Division III national swimming and diving competition had been scheduled to begin March 18 and run through March 21 in Greensboro, N.C.

Now that competition is canceled as well.

"After practice my coach called and said the meet was canceled," Grabinski said, describing how he heard the news. "I haven't been back on the board since.

"At least I'm only a freshman. I still have three chances left. I feel so bad for all the seniors, especially those in the spring sports. I got all of my season in except one meet. They had their whole season wiped out."

In the days since the announcement last week, SJU student-athletes have had other things on their minds. 

They have had to leave campus, unsure of when they might be able to return. And like all of us, they are trying to adjust to the immediate new reality in these most uncertain times.

"As a senior, it's hard to know you might be saying goodbye to people already when you didn't expect to have to be doing that for a couple of months yet," Walford said. "The guys on the team all got together last Friday and just hung out.

"We tried to cherish the times we had together and the things we accomplished. Those are moments we're going to remember the rest of our lives. It's just sad it had to end like this.

"But this is something bigger than all of us now. And making sure people stay healthy has to come first."

Trout, a biochemistry major and honor student in high school, is already set to attend the University of Minnesota's pharmacy school post-graduation. He's been getting an early leg up on his future career by working at a pharmacy in Waite Park this semester.

So he has seen the ways the pandemic is impacting the community outside SJU as well.

"We've had so many people coming in to fill up prescriptions for three months so they don't have to worry about running out of things," he said. "This is something we're all going to be dealing with for a while to come."