Four Springfield public high schools have limited the area in which their sports teams will travel this fall.
In a story posted by Ozark Sports Zone, Springfield Public Schools athletic director Josh Scott said the schools will only travel in a region designated "southwest Missouri." The four schools are Glendale, Hillcrest, Kickapoo and Parkview.
"There was a suggestion from the Sports Medicine Advisory group to not have overnight stays, and to try and stay more regionally the best that we could," Scott told Ozark Sports Zone. "We are taking that advice from the medical groups and just made the decision this year to do what we could to have as many games close to home as we could."
The area designated goes to the north as far as Bolivar, Camdenton and Rolla, to Branson in the south, West Plains in the east, and Joplin to the west. The area encompasses all the schools in the Ozark Conference.
In addition, schools will not be allowed to travel to play Springfield schools from outside the designated area.
Kickapoo is a regular participant in the Art Firley Shootout at the 179 Soccer Park, but that appears to be off for this fall.
In addition, Kickapoo's volleyball team was scheduled to travel to Jefferson City for a quad against Jefferson City, Helias and Nixa to end the regular season.
Springfield's fifth public high school - Central High School - is not a member of the Ozark Conference and has five of its games outside of the designated area, including its season opener at Eldon. That game appears to still be scheduled.