BLACKSBURG, Va. – “On that bus ride back, that was probably some of the worst nine hours of my life.”
MC McCarthy was on her way home from Boston College after a lacrosse match when the news really set in that her senior season at Virginia Tech was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“Just like very high emotion. I was juts bawling my eyes out the whole ride home,” she said.
McCarthy and teammate Angie Benson are just two of the thousands of college seniors who have been battling the question of what’s next.
“I knew I had to be here another year academically,” Benson said. “So in the back of my mind I was like, how am I able to play, could I get a sixth year? Could I start applying for that? Could I start doing paperwork?”
But on March 30, the NCAA announced it would be granting spring sport athletes an additional year of eligibility. Benson knew immediately she would take it.
“Knowing I had to graduate, it’s not fun being a student-athlete and then just a student at the same school when you see everyone having fun and competing,” she said.
McCarthy already had a job lined up after graduation, so she has been weighing her options on whether to return.
“I wasn’t planning on coming back, it feels like I have to go through the circle of life,” she said. “I was planning on four years of college and I have this awesome job lined up. So it doesn’t seem realistic or practical for me to come back at this point. Just beacuse I’ve also worked so hard in school and worked so hard to get a job so that was the next step for me.”
Either way, there’s no bad decision for anyone.