At what cost athletics?: Gas prices leave teams in the dust

Jamie Doran

Valley Press

With the rising cost of gas, sports teams in the area are being hit hard as it gets more and more expensive to travel to tournaments and other sporting events.

The Clark Fork Valley Minors All-star team and the Plains Piranhas swim team have both felt the pressure of the rising gas prices when traveling.

The All-stars have traveled to Columbia Falls, Polson and Florence for tournaments this season and coach Todd Johannsen said it really starts to add up for the parents. “We’ve done several tournaments this season and it gets pretty expensive,” he said. “When we go to a tournament there is gas that has to be paid for, hotel rooms and food because we usually eat out.”

The tournaments the All-stars attended usually lasted a few days, so that even added to the expenses more. Fortunately, the All-stars have been able to raise money for their trip to Meridian, Idaho for the regional tournament.

Another team that has been struggling with the recent spike in gas prices is the Piranhas. The past two weekends the Piranhas had meets scheduled in cities several hours away, and because of how much gas costs, they couldn’t get any swimmers interested in going.

“It has been a little rough because of how much gas costs,” coach Derek Danhof said. “Even at the meets where we did have swimmers, we had way less than usual.”

Because there aren’t a whole lot of swim teams in the immediate area, the Piranhas would have to travel quite a ways, if they weren’t hosting a meet, to compete. The last meet they were able to attend was three weeks ago in Columbia Falls, which is about 100 miles away from Plains. Then if the swimmer qualifies for finals on Saturday the family has to decided whether or not to drive back to Plains Friday evening and then back to Columbia Falls Saturday morning or if they should just get a hotel room.

This weekend the Piranhas will travel to Conrad for divisionals. Conrad is 250 miles away, and although the distance may impact the number of swimmers who go, Danhof still is expecting a decent number to make the trip. “Divisionals is a big meet and it is how our swimmers can qualify for state, so it is important for them to go.”