Notebook: County shuts down high school athletics; MC senior commits to local college
With Stanislaus County under a new stay-at-home order as of last Sunday night due to the spread of the coronavirus and available hospital ICUs falling under 15% capacity, the county’s health department has suspended athletic conditioning workouts for all high schools.
The stay-at-home order prohibits all gatherings with members of other households.
The CIF announced on Dec. 1 that the start of the sports season is delayed in large part because the California Department of Public Health has yet to update youth sports guidelines since late in the summer.
MC senior commits to University of the Pacific: Modesto Christian senior guard Jaden Phillips committed to the University of the Pacific last week.
Phillips is the second Crusader to commit to an NCAA D-I school after senior Chris Fan signed with Eastern Washington last month.. Former Crusader Alex Merkviladze is a freshman at Cal State Northridge and is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds for the 2-1 Matadors, who next play Saturday at 6 p.m. at Pepperdine.
Phillips follows former MC standout Anthony Townes, a former Modesto Bee player of the year, to Stockton. Townes graduated from UOP in 2019.
Central Catholic alum leading the nation: Arkansas State redshirt senior linebacker Justin Rice leads the nation with 18.5 tackles for a loss.
Rice, the Modesto Bee player of the year in 2014 and 2015, led the Raiders to back-to-back state titles. He was a first-team All-Mountain West honoree at Fresno State last year and the Mountain West Conference Preseason Defensive Player of the Year before transferring in the summer.
The Red Wolves are 4-7 and end their regular season at home against the University of the Incarnate Word on Saturday.
Mariners confirm Nuts will be back in 2021: The Seattle Mariners announced on Wednesday the Modesto Nuts would return as one of the team’s affiliates in 2021.
“The Mariners have been an absolute dream to work with since we began our partnership in 2017, “ Nuts General Manager Zach Brockman said in a press release. “We’ve extremely excited to have the opportunity to continue growing professional baseball in the central valley with such a first-class organization.”
Per the press release from the Mariners, the Nuts will begin their season as one of Seattle’s “A” affiliates. The California League will lose its designation as a High-A league; the Everett (Wash.) AquaSox will be Advanced A (High-A).
This story was originally published December 9, 2020 at 11:53 AM.
