Todd Tharp
The start of the boys state soccer tournament has been moved back one day to Friday. Officials with the Iowa High School Athletic Association made the decision after several days of heavy rain in Central Iowa. Cownie Soccer Park in Des Moines hosts the tournament.
Todd Tharp of the IHSAA says the decision was made after heavy rain Monday night. Tharp says the complex has received nearly nine and-a-half inches of rain since May 17th.
“We went down this morning and looked at things again”, said Tharp. “One field was in really good shape and the other three were spongy and we thought we take an extra day to let them dry out and slide things back a day.”
The semifinals will now be Saturday and the championship matches will be next Tuesday.
“Just like we did five years ago”, added Tharp. “We had rain on a Saturday and had to move it to a Tuesday so it is the second time in five years we had held the championships on a Tuesday.”