by Emma Kate Callahan, photos by Mary Hilliard and Hannah Bredar

The STA athletic department allowed track athletes to compete at KU Relays Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

Athletes who qualified for KU Relays competed in Lawrence at the new University of Kansas Track April 18 and 19, according to the KU Relay website. About 220 schools traveled from ten different states to compete. Six of 21 catholic schools, such as STA and Notre Dame De Sion High School competed on Good Friday. Catholic schools such as Rockhurst High School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School did not compete Friday, but did on Holy Saturday. Whereas some, like St. James High School, prohibited competing the entire weekend. Over the last 15 years, KU Relays have fallen on Easter Weekend four times.

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Good Friday is the day of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the base of Catholicism, so the importance of this day should not go unstressed, according to the Catechism of Catholic Church. Holy Saturday is the day Jesus laid in the tomb, before the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

Athletic director Mark Hough is the head coach of the STA track team, according to Hough. Hough and other track coaches left the decision to compete up to athletes and their parents.

“It’s an honor and a big deal to qualify [at KU Relays] so we didn’t really think it was our place to take that away from somebody,” Hough said.

When asked about KU Relays, president Nan Bone replied saying she didn’t know STA was competing in KU Relays.

Later it was revealed that Hough checked with the administration sometime near January to ensure athletes could run during the Holy Week, according to Hough.

On Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the Catechism of the Catholic Church obliges Catholics to fast and abstain. In other words, Catholics should be thinking of the suffering Jesus went through by dying on the cross, versus their own suffering.

However, neither Good Friday or Holy Saturday are Holy Day’s of Obligation, according to campus minister and theology teacher Jennifer Greene.

“I think also you can carry Good Friday in your heart wherever you are,” Greene said. “So whether you’re in church or in a relay it’s still something you can be reflecting on or contemplating on too. I don’t think Catholicism rests in whether or not you run in a relay.”

Other students, such as Rockhurst High School junior Philip Cordova, disagreed.

“[Running on Good Friday] kind of sends the wrong message,” Cordova said. “You claim to be a catholic school. STA is the only catholic school I’ve heard that is running.”

However, many KU Relay runners, including junior Anna Bauman, did not think it was a big deal to run on Holy week.

“It could look like we don’t have as strong catholic values as other schools,” Bauman said. “But I don’t think that was the intention of the administration when they decided or whoever decided we could compete because they gave us the option to either run or not run.”