Lake Forest teams return to competition

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Updated: September 18, 2012 7:44PM

Lake Forest High School athletics are back — for one night, at least.

Despite the continuing teachers’ strike, more than 50 percent of the student body attended school Tuesday and received at least five hours of instruction in core subject areas. That allowed the school to meet the state standards for a legal school day, freeing up the athletic teams to compete again.

Lake Forest’s girls golf team played a road match against New Trier on Tuesday evening, traveling with its varsity, junior varsity and practice teams.

“It’s kind of a nice outing for the girls,” coach Marlene Miller said before the conclusion of Tuesday’s meet. “They were all pleased to be on the bus today.”

A statement posted to the Lake Forest High School website Tuesday included a schedule for girls and boys cross country races and matches in girls field hockey, girls tennis and boys golf. Practices were scheduled for football, boys soccer, poms, cheerleading, girls volleyball and girls swimming.

The statement included a sentence stipulating that the schedule was “pending the final approval of the Illinois High School Association.”

Miller’s team is scheduled to play Stevenson on Wednesday and Warren on Friday. She won’t be sure about those matches until the school meets the state’s requirements again and gets approval from the IHSA.

“I think tomorrow is the same as today,” Miller said. “We just kind of wait until we see what happens in school tomorrow.

“We don’t know if we’ll be playing Stevenson or not.”

Students returned to Lake Forest High School on Monday morning. If Lake Forest’s athletic teams are allowed to compete throughout the week, it would be a good sign for the fate of Friday night’s home football game between the Scouts and Zion-Benton.