No Drake Relays for Roth, Demons

WASHINGTON - Despite there being no spring sports, the Washington Demons achieved a victory recently when boys track and field coach Steve Roth won his fight against the novel coronavirus.

'It was nasty fighting that thing,” Roth said. 'I am not contagious anymore. I don't know if I can get it again. I have heard that you can't, but I have heard that you can. I have been on the bad side so I don't want to take a chance now that I am better. Everybody needs to do what they are supposed to do.”

It was a bittersweet win for the coach, especially at this time of year, with the final weekend of April approaching.

'To give up my 44th year of track season for people to know this is real, for them to follow the rules, it's worth it so it doesn't happen again,” Roth said. 'People have given up so much that it's worth it if people will change their habits until they say it's OK.”

The Drake Relays are conducted in Des Moines during that time period and in past years Roth has been focused on his athletes who qualified.

This year, school has been suspended, then canceled as have spring sports in the state.

'It is a sad deal, a really sad deal and a sad time of year,” Roth said. 'When I found out Friday that there would be no season, I called my kids and there was a lot of emotion flowing between them and I.”

Roth was especially looking forward to Demon senior Ethan Hunt's chances in the 400-meter low hurdles. Hunt had placed seventh at Drake last year as a junior and fifth at the Class 3A state meet in May.

'I feel bad for all my kids but especially the seniors,” Roth said of Hunt and teammates Evan Horak, Jadon Crawford, Justin Simmering, Kyle Pierce, Luke Turner, Michael Kimball, Matthew Collett, Trevor Quigley, Lucas Ellis and Ryan Friese. 'They have all been out all four years and mean a lot to me.”

While the state meet is considered the ultimate for a high school athlete, it is divided up into four classes. The Drake Relays is basically a whole state championship, making it more prestigious in the eyes of many.

'Fact! It has much more meaning,” Roth said. 'There is more emphasis put on Drake, which we really shouldn't, but it is a state championship, not a class championship.”

Roth was confident in his athletes' training even though school had been shut down.

'I would text them on Monday and told them what I would like then to do,” he said. 'If their parents said stay home, that was fine, but I gave them workouts that I wanted them to do. On Friday I would text them again and ask how their week went.”

Roth delegated duties to his assistant coaches. The weight coach would stay in touch with the weight guys, distance coach with distance guys and so forth.

'I am the sprinters coach so I would stay on them along with all the seniors,” Roth said. 'They knew what they were supposed to do.”

Roth said his opinion of the school and sports shutdown did not change after he contracted the contagion.

'They did the right thing,” he said. 'I was devastated when it first happened, but they did the right thing. I am devastated because I lost a season and I lost a senior with these seniors.”

Roth said it was hard not to go to the track, hard not to see the athletes, but it was a needed response to the virus.

'The government did the right thing,” Roth said. 'I believe it because I went through it. I have stressed to my kids to stay healthy.”

Those words carry more weight with the responsibility of the experience Roth went through.

'They said I was the poster man for symptoms because I got them all,” Roth said.

There was a 10-12 day period of the absolute torment, then a two-week recovery.

'It has put me out of commission for a good month,” Roth said. 'Who knows how I got it. I didn't give it to any one. I want people to see my experience as a positive.”

Roth knows the mind-set of teenagers, having coached for more than 40 years.

'They don't think they are going to get it, and there are some adults that think that way too,” he said. 'That is just not cool. I am very paranoid now.

”I'd do anything to make people believe that it is real, that it is not a hoax or any such thing.”

Roth is a big hockey fan and was disappointed when the hockey season was postponed.

'I have watched a lot of replays,” he said. 'I could sit and watch my big screen TV in the garage through my picture window. I have watched a lot of Cardinals baseball replays too. Something positive is always good.

'Stay healthy.”