Phil Pitts was getting ready for his first season as the Helias track and field head coach when the coronavirus pandemic first suspended, and later canceled, the 2020 high school track and field season.
He'll get another chance at his first season of coaching, but a group of Crusaders and Lady Crusaders missed out on their chance for a final season.
"The No. 1 disappointment falls on the seniors," Pitts said. "You just feel so bad for them. They put their whole high school track career into that senior season, and they don't get that.
"For me as a head coach, it's disappointing, but I'll get another chance and I'll get to do it again next year. You just feel bad for the seniors. You wish they could've gotten their senior year, you wish they could've gotten that one last time to wear a Helias jersey."
This weekend would have been the Class 4 state track and field championships at Adkins Stadium. But, like every regular season and postseason meet, it was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
"Every track meet was still in my calendar on my phone," Pitts said. "They all popped up as reminders. I probably should've deleted those, so that it wasn't that constant reminder of what could have been."
Helias had 86 athletes - 51 boys and 35 girls - ready to compete in the 2020 season. Eleven of them were seniors.
"We had a really good group of seniors, really dedicated, really hard-working," Pitts said. "We only had 11 of them, but those 11 were really committed to what we were doing."
One of those seniors was Jack Crull, who was Helias' only returning state qualifier from the 2019 season. He won the Class 4 boys title in the 800-meter run and medaled in the 1,600-meter run. Crull also qualified in the 3,200-meter run.
"Jack is a different kind of athlete, just in terms of his ability and talent," Pitts said of Crull, who won six state medals in his first three years at Helias. "If you watch track, the 100-meter and 200-meter races, the 4x100-meter relay, those are thrilling, they're exciting. But Jack made the 3,200-meter run exciting.
"It was just really cool to watch him run and how well he ran those long distances. He would always try to get in two miles before we stretched."
Crull will get to continue his career next season at Bradley in both cross country and track and field.
"Your heart breaks for him that he didn't get that chance (to run at state), but luckily for him, he'll get a chance to run in college," Pitts said.
Three other returning seniors - Emily Harrison, Holly Hentges and Taylor Lalk - qualified for sectionals last season and were aiming to advance to state this season.
"When you look at some of their summer track times or their AAU track times, I think they were going to fall into maybe being able to compete at the state level," Pitts said. " This is a really good group. I think we would have had a chance to have a really good season if we had gotten the opportunity to do it."
Pitts said this would have been a great weekend for state track, but he understood why it had to be canceled.
"What we're going through is historic," Pitts said. "It's something that is gigantic. State track has survived a lot of gigantic events, and for this to be the one the finally was the one to curtail it is something that we will always remember."
Now it's on to next spring, when Pitts will get a second chance at coaching his first meet at Helias.
"I think the future is very bright for Helias track," he said.