Endgame

For student-athletes who were seniors, the sudden closing of campus brought an unexpected end to their college athletic careers. We asked three of them about the experience.

BC Magazine: How far along was your season when it was canceled?

Zach Walker, men’s hockey: We’d won the Hockey East regular-season title and were ranked fourth in the nation. Our season is nothing compared to the health of everyone around us, but it was heartbreaking. My senior class had never made the NCAA tournament, and this year it looked like we might. It was devastating.

Kylie Wilcox, women’s tennis: We were about halfway through our season. We had just gotten back from spring break, and had played one match and had three days of practice—and then our season was canceled.

Christian Cavaliere, men’s golf: We had just played our second tournament of the spring, in Las Vegas. We got home at like two in the morning. That same day we got the email that students had to be off campus by Sunday.

BCM: Former Athletic Director Martin Jarmond later held a meeting with BC athletes. What happened at that meeting?

ZW: Martin was saying there was still a decent chance for postseason tournaments to be held. Then Jocelyn [Fisher Gates, senior associate AD] walked up to Martin with his phone. He’d gotten a text that all the NCAA tournaments had been canceled. Mid-speech! It was like something out of a movie script.

BCM: Your career as a college athlete was suddenly over. How did you process such disappointing news?

KW: It was like going through a traumatic experience. You usually have a couple of months to spend with everyone and say your goodbyes. We had four days. It was a very sad, emotional time. I think a lot of people are still struggling to process it.

CC: Those last four days, no one knew whether to be super upset or try to savor the time we had. When I said goodbye to all my roommates, I broke down a little. It just hit me all at once that I was actually leaving. And it was as if we weren’t just saying goodbye to college—my thought was, when the dust settles, are there people that we will never see again as a result of this?

BCM: What comes next for you athletically?

ZW: I personally struggled to have as much ice time as some players, but I want to try and pursue a hockey career. I’m hoping to play minor-league professional hockey somewhere next year.

KW: I may play some tournaments over the summer. I don’t have aspirations of becoming a top-100 player, but I may play a few pro events just to compete again. We’ll see.

CC: I’m planning to do a qualifying school for a pro tour. That’s the first step when you turn pro, qualifying school for whichever tour you can get on. ◽