MOSES LAKE – Over the weekend, several high school sporting events were altered or canceled due to poor air quality in the Basin. Othello Athletic Director Carlos Gonzalez said they will always put student safety first. Smoky weather like the Basin has seen recently is one of the factors that could lead to a delay, cancellation or change of venue.

“As hard as it is to pull the plug on something like that, we're always going to prioritize our students’ safety, but we were lucky to have better conditions in Ellensburg and to be able to move the game there,” Gonzalez said.  

The Huskies football team was set to host the Ellensburg Bulldogs on Friday evening. However, due to the air quality being too dangerous to play in, they moved the game to Ellensburg. Gonzalez said he worked with Bulldogs Athletic Director Cole Kanyer and Director of Transportation Marian Shade to make those changes Saturday morning.  

“(They) were amazing and helped us to go from having a home game, not requiring any vehicles, to getting two buses, a van and two SUVs in a matter of hours. Total team effort, but it really happened around some just good communication with all the necessary stakeholders to make a quick decision like that,” Gonzalez said.  

Over in Moses Lake, the Mavericks girls soccer team had to cancel their game against Post Falls on Saturday due to the air quality. Athletic Director Loren Sandhop said he made the call around 6:30 a.m. 

“Bottom line is, we're just trying to keep kids healthy and safe, and you didn't need to be outside for very long on Saturday to say, ‘Yeah, it's probably not very healthy for kids to be sprinting up and down a field and breathing hard and breathing (smoke) deep into their lungs,’” Sandhop said.  

Athletic directors like Gonzalez and Sandhop use Air Quality Index measurements from various resources to make their decisions. One resource they use is guidelines from the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s health and wellness section. WIAA has a link to a document put together by the Washington State Department of Health.  

WIAA Director of Communications Sean Bessette said the group recognizes the impact of smoke and heat during this time of year. Which is why they have those resources available on their website.  

“The resources on our health and wellness page, those are resources available for consideration for when schools are looking at potentially making accommodations for games around smoke or heat,” Bessette said.  

They broke up AQI measurements into four groups that range from safest to least safe. Anything from zero to 50 AQI is safe to play in and holds no restrictions. 51-100 AQI is considered moderate air quality, where coaches should allow children with health conditions to opt out of physical activity.  

AQI that ranges from 101-150 states that coaches should modify their practice’s intensity for children with health conditions or cancel the sporting event. Any AQI measurement that is 151 or higher requires athletic programs to cancel their events if they are outdoors.  

Sandhop said he also uses the Department of Ecology, Air Now and the Washington Smoke Blog.  

Both Gonzalez and Sandhop said their readings Saturday morning were over 160. Gonzalez said Othello’s AQI reached 200 by the afternoon. In Moses Lake, the Moses Lake Civic Center has a sensor that Sandhop uses to help make his decisions. In towns like Othello, Royal or Quincy, they use more local sensors called Purple Air sensors.  

In cases where games are canceled, like Moses Lake, it’s not always a guarantee the game will be rescheduled, Sandhop said. For sports like football, if they can’t play anywhere between Thursday and Saturday, then the game can’t be replayed.  

“Kids have to have rest, and we're going to look out for their health and safety. In soccer, I try not to play more than two games a week. In football, it's one. A kid playing multiple games in a week is only a recipe for them getting hurt,” Sandhop said.  

For the Mavs girls soccer team, it’s likely their game is not going to be rescheduled. Sandhop said if both programs can’t find a time that fits with their schedules, then it just won’t be replayed.  

“We're not going to play four soccer matches in a week. Three is the max and two is more optimal. We usually play on Tuesdays and Saturdays. If I don't have an open Saturday, and (Post Falls) doesn't have that same open Saturday, the game's probably going to be lost because I'm not going to play back-to-back days in risk injury for our kids,” Sandhop said.  

    Smoke hangs over fields and hills near Royal City from a vantage along Dodson Road. Several Basin sports events were altered or canceled over the weekend due to high AQI levels.