By Kyle Garcia I kyle.m.c.garcia@gmail.com I @_kyle_garcia 

With the NCAA's decision to grant an extra year of eligibility to student athletes whose spring seasons were cut short, University of Portland seniors were left with a decision: should I stay or should I go. While some have decided to move on following graduation, others are taking advantage of the chance to play one more season of their respective sports. Here are some of the stories of those who chose to stay.
 
Henry Cheney, Baseball
 
You want to keep playing baseball until someone tells you to stop. That's the saying that Henry Cheney kept in mind when thinking about his decision to come back. His senior year had just been taken away from him, and it was unclear whether his final season had ended with a whimper after starting with a bang. The Portland baseball team was 12-4 before the season was cancelled, and they looked well on their way to their first winning season since 2012.
 
"Our program has come a long way since my freshman year," Cheney said, whose team was just 10-45-1 his first season. "It wasn't just half-a-season anger, too. It was this four-year buildup of this product that we've been working on and slowly building."
 
Cheney remembers constantly checking his phone in class to see other schools and conferences cancelling their seasons, hoping that somehow UP would be one of the lucky ones. Obviously, that was not the case. Before practice on the day classes were cancelled, the team converged in the locker room to discuss the plan moving forward. It was one of the most eerie sights Cheney's seen.
 
"I don't think I've ever been in a locker room that's been that quiet," Cheney said. "I think everyone was just confused and didn't really know, which was the scary part. You didn't want it to be real, obviously. You're trying not to believe it even though it probably was true."
 
It seemed like Cheney had been told his career was over and he had to stop. Or so he thought. He was thankful for how hard Vice President of Athletics Scott Leykam and head baseball coach Geoff Loomis fought to ensure he could come back. When approval came, Loomis told Cheney and the other seniors a story.
 
"He told us this story about having an opportunity to keep playing or to move on to another job and hang it up for baseball, and he decided to not play baseball and go work a desk job, and he said that was one of the biggest regrets of his life," Cheney said. "He related it back to us where we had the opportunity to come back and go one more year...Loomis is someone who I really respect...he was a big influence and him pushing me to want to come back was really awesome."
 
For Cheney, he saw it also as an opportunity to finish what his class had started.
 
"We want to see this finished product," Cheney said.
 
For now, all Cheney can do is just try to stay in shape, and no access to a gym hasn't stopped him from trying. He's been able to combine more traditional workouts -- such as playing basketball and practicing hitting -- with more unorthodox methods.
 
"We actually managed to get a (weight) bar, and then we got a couple of trash cans with baseball plates on top of it, and that's a little squat rack," Cheney said. "And then we made another bar to be able to do some other stuff...We have a little basketball hoop that we're using as a shoulder press...It makes you really humble coming from having a weight room to doing this, but it's definitely building some character."
 
Cheney has seen the team grow from a struggling squad to a potential force in conference play. And while the season was cut short, Cheney joked that even their shortened season was better than his first one.
 
"Obviously, we got shut down but we joked that our coach (Loomis) always talks about finding it better than you found it," Cheney said. "Technically, 10 games to start that we won, and we finished with 12 wins (senior year) so we exceeded that goal but we're hoping to push it a little further."
 
Now Cheney will have the chance to finish the job next spring.
 
Emily Soares, Women's Tennis
 
It was an innocuous joke at the time, but it turned out to be a grave prediction of the future. Emily Soares and the women's tennis team were practicing on March 11 like it was any other day. Soares jokingly said "Guys, this might be our last practice so let's enjoy it," not thinking that that would actually be the case. When she found out later that her joke had become reality, she didn't know what to think.
 
"I said it jokingly, so it really hit me when I found out," Soares said. "I didn't think our season would be ending so soon."
 
It was shocking to Soares and the rest of the team. There were a lot of emotions flying around: anger, disappointment, sadness. They had just started their season 4-2, and Soares felt confident that this was their year to make a push at the conference championships. The next day at a team meeting the coaching staff gave the players a chance to express those feelings.
 
"Just very, very sad and upset," Soares said about her feelings at the time. "I'm an emotional person so I just, I couldn't really speak honestly."
 
It put her in a strange position too as a senior. Her season had unceremoniously ended, and her tennis career was over. But the news about an extra year of eligibility changed her plans. She had the chance to do her senior year over. The result was constant conversations between her and the other seniors -- Anna Oberg and Jelena Lukic -- about what their plan was.
 
"We were all in contact," Soares said. "We'd text each other 'What're you guys' plans? What're your thoughts?' It was a very tough decision for all of us after weighing the pros and cons of where everyone was going to end up."
 
Both Lukic and Oberg eventually opted out of coming back – although Oberg will stay on campus to pursue a graduate degree while working for the Portland Sports Network – but Soares had to think hard about it. She decided to see what the job market was like before committing to anything, and with most companies putting hiring on hold, she found that her decision had become a lot more straightforward.
 
"Once this option of eligibility came up, and I really thought about it and the fact that I could obtain my master's degree in that one year and play again was just something I couldn't give up," Soares said. "It's a really good opportunity."
 
So now Soares gets to prepare once again for another season of tennis. She hasn't had to get as creative as Cheney with her workouts, using a personal trainer to practice her game and stay in shape. She doesn't know what the fall or spring season will hold, but for now she's prepared for anything.
 
"I'm thankful for my coaches and the athletic department for helping me make this possible," Soares said. "I'm grateful for the UP staff."
 
Alycia Wodke, Beach Volleyball
 
Alycia Wodke remembers talking to her professor about Hawaii. UP's beach volleyball team was set to play in the University of Hawaii Invite in April. Even as some universities had started to cancel classes and close due to the coronavirus, she was sure that nothing would stop her team from playing. Her professor said it likely wouldn't happen, but Alycia felt differently.
 
"I was like 'What? We're for sure gonna go,'" Wodke said. "And then sure enough, 24 hours later, everything slowly just started getting cancelled."
 
The beach volleyball team never got to play in Hawaii. They played one match against the University of Oregon on Feb. 29, which was a 3-2 loss. As one of the few beach-only volleyball players, Wodke had spent all of the prior semester training for the spring only to play just one match. It was a difficult thing to fathom.
 
"All those days of practice and it's kind of just like 'Well, you don't get to prove anything,'" Wodke said. "I think that was the hardest part, just not being able to show the improvement and compete."
 
The first thing on Wodke's mind after the cancellation was eligibility. It was never a question whether she would come back or not; it was only a matter of whether she would be eligible to do so. For Wodke, all she wanted was a second chance at playing a fifth year of beach volleyball.
 
"I really wanted to play a fifth year of beach," Wodke said. "I want to play. I want to compete."
 
Her coaches also heavily influenced her decision to come back. Wodke felt she connected with the staff right away and that she'd grown significantly as a player in a short amount of time.
 
"The reason that I came to Portland in the first place was because of the coaches," Wodke said. "I played kind my whole life but I've never played and been coached at a collegiate level... so for me it was about what's best for my game, and I think that staying would allow me to get better and improve."
 
Now Wodke finds herself having to train once again to get ready for the spring. Like Cheney, Wodke also had to get creative with her workouts. While she's been working with a personal trainer three times a week, she's had to find other ways to stay in shape. Usually that means grabbing a volleyball and hitting that around to make sure she doesn't lose that muscle memory. Sometimes, though, she's had to use whatever household item she could find to get a good workout in.
 
"At one point I was doing squats and stuff with laundry detergent containers," Wodke says with a chuckle.
 
Wodke has also worked to try and stay as mentally involved as possible. The whole team is currently doing a max potential mindset course run by professional volleyball player Reid Priddy, learning how to put themselves in the best mindset when playing. For Wodke, who considers herself an ultra-competitor, the course has helped her understand how she can change her mindset.
 
"I think anytime you're learning something from a professional that's been very successful it's good for you," Wodke said.
 
Wodke is looking forward to finally being able to play out that fifth year whenever that may happen. She doesn't know what that looks like particularly, as no one is certain as to what condition the world will be in when spring 2021 comes around. All that is certain is that Wodke sure wouldn't mind that trip to Hawaii. 

Complete list of UP student-athletes returning for an extra year of eligibility:

Henry Cheney, Baseball
Connor Knutson, Baseball     
Nathan Packard, Baseball
Christian Peters, Baseball
Alycia Wodke, Beach Volleyball
Carlos Donat,  Men's Tennis
Joey Duerr, Men's Track & Field
Said Guermali, Men's Track & Field
Trent Mazelli, Men's Track & Field
Michael Solano, Men's Track & Field
Caleb Webb, Men's Track & Field
Emily Soares, Women's Tennis