ARTS&LIFE

Arts&LIFE 6 | Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Kroger employees describe the precautions taken amid the COVID-19 pandemic. ON PAGE 8

Ohio’s gruesome ‘Tiger King’ connection

RISHI RAJAGOPALAN

Lantern reporter rajagopalan.40@osu.edu W hile, Lions, tigers and bears might be expected in the Land of Oz, they were once unlikely residents of Zanesville, Ohio.

As “Tiger King” — the eight-part docuseries chronicling the misadventures of Oklahoma private zoo owner Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic — enters its third week atop Netflix’s top 10 rankings, Ohio viewers might have noticed a segment that hits a bit closer to home.

Thirty-three minutes into the first episode, the series cuts to Zanesville, Ohio, a small town 50 miles east of Columbus, Ohio. On the evening of Oct. 18, 2011, a resident named Terry Thompson released 50 of his 56 exotic animals from their cages on his property, the Muskingum County Animal Farm. Thompson’s collection included 18 Bengal tigers, 17 African lions, eight bears, three cougars, two wolves and two monkeys. Thompson then died by suicide. What followed caused Ohio to implement some of the strictest legislation around exotic animal control in the country. The incident

“The call came in from a neighbor that there was a couple animals loose on the Thompson property. And that’s how everything kind of got kicked off,” Matt Lutz,

Workers place the carcass of a dead animal into a bucket loader for burial near Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2011.

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Muskingum County sheriff, said.

Lutz said he was two years into his first term as sheriff at the time and was aware of Thompson’s animals. Law enforcement had been to the farm before for reports of animal cruelty and a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that put Thompson in prison for about a year on federal gun charges. Shortly after he finished his sentence, Thompson released the animals. Lutz said the sheriff’s office didn’t realize the scale of the incident until officers arrived at the scene and saw the number of animals Thompson housed on the property.

The sheriff’s office likely lacked awareness because of loose regulation around exotic animal ownership at the time, Tom Stalf, president and CEO of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, said. Aside from a federal U.S. Department of Agriculture license, the laws controlling ownership and care of large wild animals were left to individual states.

“[Ohio] did not have laws at all. So it’s not that they had poor laws. It had zero laws,” Stalf said. “So if you wanted to own a tiger, you just went on eBay or on Craigslist and found a tiger, or went to an animal auction and bought a tiger or lion, and you could have that in your backyard. You could have it living in your apartment.”

Stalf was the zoo’s chief operating officer when it got the call about Thompson’s farm. A team including Stalf, Director Emeritus Jack Hanna, veterinarians and staff was assembled and immediately dispatched to Zanesville with tranquilizers and cages to help the police capture the animals. However, the capture did not go as planned.

“Because it was dark, there was nothing we could do,” Stalf said. “In order to sedate an animal, you have to have a clear shot. You have to have about 15-20 minutes worth of calm surroundings so the drug will take effect — and this was in a wooded area and there was no way that we were able to secure or sedate the animals in the dark.”

Once the volume of Thompson’s menagerie was ascertained from a caretaker working there, and the animals were able to get further away, Lutz said they made the decision to shoot the animals on sight.

Of the 50 animals released, 48 were killed by Muskingum County deputies and SWAT, and two monkeys were presumed eaten by the big cats.

Lutz said no humans were hurt, and he credits a neighbor’s timely phone call and his officers’ quick response time as the reason for the successful containment. Thompson’s history

Lutz said Thompson’s life was in shambles after he left prison in 2011. His wife had left him, his farm was in poor shape and he had no money to feed the animals.

“It is obvious that Terry was distraught when he got out of prison. The rumor was he could not even find a ride home. The rumor was he bought a bicycle and rode it from Columbus,” Lutz said. “The evidence at the crime scene was clearly a suicide.”

As for why Thompson let his animals out of their cages before he took his own life, Lutz said there were several possible explanations.

“We had been involved with coming out and handling complaints. Obviously he was agitated about that,” Lutz said. “He did not like people on his property. So, did he let the animals out to get back at people? Or did he have so much love for the animals that he did not want to see them locked up, and so he freed them? Did he do it to get back at his wife?”

Stalf said one of the zoo’s veterinarians identified markings on Thompson’s body TIGER KING CONTINUES ON 9

How to make an effective COVID-19 mask QUARANTINE CRASH COURSE

SOPHIA PALUMBO

Lantern reporter palumbo.67@osu.edu T he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s April 3 recommendation to wear nonsurgical face coverings in public has led many to try their hand at making masks at home, but not all masks are created equal.

Homemade masks are less effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19 than hospital-grade N95 masks, which are tested for fit and permeability, but effectiveness can be improved by using multiple layers of thick fabric and making sure the mask fits properly, Joann Dible, a critical care nurse at the Wexner Medical Center at Ohio State, said.

“You would want to use a material that’s tightly knit, something you can’t easily see through, something that has a high thread count so that the holes or spaces between the threads are really minimal,” Dible said. “And then you’d want to layer it, so double layer with a cotton batting or something in the middle.”

Dible said a mask’s effectiveness can also be improved by sewing a pipe cleaner into the fabric so it conforms to the bridge of the nose and by making sure it fits snugly underneath the chin.

Karen Belisle, a dental hygienist and Ohio State alumna, said she began making masks for herself with materials she had at home and giving them out to about 30 others over Facebook.

“I wear a mask for work so I’m used to them, and I had a couple at home,” she said. “I based my pattern on a mask that I would normally wear at work.”

Belisle makes her masks from two layers of 100 percent cotton fabric with a polyester interfacing in between. She then makes horizontal folded pleats down the middle of the mask and sews the layers together with a zig-zag stitching pattern, into which she sews loops of elastic to fit around the ears. At the top of the mask, she sews in a wire pipe cleaner to improve the fit over the bridge of the nose.

Belisle said she uses a sewing machine, fabric scissors, thread, elastic and pipe cleaners to make her masks, and that the polyester interfacing is optional if it can’t be found in a store. Although Belisle had the necessary supplies at home, she said she realizes that many sewing stores may have low stock since the CDC advisory.

However, there are no-sew options available and many compromises that can be made for missing materials, Belisle said. For example, the mask’s straps can be made from pieces of string that tie behind the ears instead of elastic, she said.

“It will make them more difficult to make because you have to make the tie, but it might be a little more adjustable for people,” Belisle said. “It might be more comfortable for some people that wear them for longer periods of time, so they don’t bother the backs of your ears.”

Along with being worn properly, a mask should also be taken care of and not worn more than once between washes, Belisle said. She includes a list of instructions with every mask she gives away.

“You take it off, put it directly into the washing machines and wash your hands afterward,” Belisle said.

Along with wearing masks in public, people should also maintain social distancing to stay safe from harmful droplets that come from an infected person, Dible said.

“People just need to understand to stay farther back and to wash their hands frequently and cover their mouth,” she said.

Dible said if people started wearing masks sooner in the outbreak, the infection rate might have slowed, especially in big cities where people are in close proximity to others. At this point, the best thing a person can do to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is stay home as much as possible, she said.

Directions for making, wearing and taking care of homemade masks can be found on the CDC website.The website also includes tutorials for making no-sew masks using alternative materials such as bandanas and T-shirts.

SOPHIA PALUMBO | LANTERN REPORTER Materials to make a mask at home include a sewing machine, fabric scissors, thread, elastic and pipe cleaners.

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Student Kroger employees combat COVID-19 pandemic COVID-19

MACKENZIE SHANKLIN

Lantern reporter shanklin.32@osu.edu E very 30 minutes, Kroger cashier Audrey Leopold, a second-year in social work and sociology, and her coworkers shut down their registers, wash their hands and wipe the registers down with sanitizer. These are just some of the precautions Kroger stores are taking to protect their employees and the community since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Amid a COVID-19 response that has shut down most nonessential businesses and activities across the state, grocery stores remain open. Grocery store employees are now on the front lines of the pandemic. Lives now depend on the diligence of these low-wage workers.

Kroger stores have implemented numerous steps to protect customers and associates during the COVID-19 pandemic and are following guidance from federal, state and local agencies, according to Kroger’s website.

Audrey Leopold said the Kroger store where she works, located on Tiffin Avenue in Findlay, Ohio, has changed its hours, placed “Please Wait” signs on the floor to promote social distancing and imposed a designated time for people immunocompromised or 60 years or older to shop. The store, along with other Kroger locations in Columbus, Ohio, has also placed plexiglass shields at registers to protect cashiers.

The chain has also begun to limit the number of customers in the store to 50- percent capacity to allow for the proper distancing of customers throughout the store, according to a Kroger press release.

“I do have a little thing of hand sanitizer, like personal hand sanitizer, that I keep in my apron. I use it after every transaction,” Audrey Leopold said.

While working part-time at Kroger, Audrey Leopold said she has partnered with a friend to sew protective masks to donate to health care workers and wear herself at work. Her store supplies gloves, but does not supply employees with masks.

Nathan Mundo, a third-year in chemical engineering, works mostly night shifts at the Short North Kroger, unloading trucks and keeping the shelves stocked with goods for customers.

The Short North Kroger supplies its employees with gloves to use while stocking shelves and makes sanitizing supplies available.

“I would like to bring a mask, but I haven’t been able to get one,” Mundo said. “I’m not super worried about it, but I don’t want to contaminate a bunch of other people.”

Kroger encourages its employees to wear protective masks and gloves while at work. The retailer has ordered masks for employees to wear at work as of April 6, and they should start arriving at stores soon, according to a Kroger press release.

Like Audrey Leopold’s Findlay store, the Short North location has implemented lines on the floor to help customers practice social distancing.

Josh Leopold, a first-year in music com

CORI WADE | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Kroger stores have implemented numerous steps to protect customers and associates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

position and Audrey’s sister, works in the ClickList online grocery ordering services at the Findlay Kroger, where she takes groceries out to vehicles or walks around the store grabbing items for curbside pickup.

To protect ClickList employees from possible COVID-19 exposure, Josh Leopold said Kroger requires customers to notify workers if they or anyone in their households have COVID-19 symptoms so employees know to take special precautions with their vehicle at pickup, Josh Leopold said.

“Just making sure we’re using a lot of hand sanitizer with picking groceries,” Josh Leopold said. “We all have a little ring with one of the smaller hand sanitizers on there and we have plenty in the back.”

Josh said she has now started washing her phone more frequently — about once or twice per week — and makes sure to sanitize things that she touches on a daily basis to keep herself healthy.

“It definitely worries me, although there are some things I’m more worried about because I know both my own parents are first responders,“ Josh Leopold said. “All four of us are kind of going out almost on a day-to-day basis being well exposed to the general public.”

Contact with countless customers paired with a lack of sick leave put grocery store employees at an even greater risk. Audrey Leopold said part-time Kroger employees do not get sick leave, and full-time employees cannot use saved-up sick leave days unless they test positive for COVID-19.

Kroger has offered its employees extra compensation to support them during the pandemic.

Mundo said Kroger offered all of its employees a weekly $25 stipend for food from the store, and the money is loaded onto the employee’s employee card.

Kroger also began giving full-time employees a $300 bonus and part-time employees a $150 bonus, Josh Leopold said.

Recently, the chain raised the wages of its employees an extra $2 per hour from March 29 to April 18, Audrey Leopold said.

Kroger employees at the Short North location start out at $10 per hour and are able to get raises throughout their time at the store, Mundo said.

Keeping the doors open means people are able to get the supplies they need to keep daily life going, but essential workers deal with the stress of being on the front lines.

“I don’t feel like a superhero, but I mean it definitely makes me feel like the job is more appreciated,” Mundo said.

TIGER KING FROM 6 left by some of his animals.

“He had put chicken, pieces of chicken, around in a circle. And it looked like he was wanting the animals to eat him,” Stalf said.

“Tiger King”

The Zanesville incident only takes up two minutes of airtime in “Tiger King” and serves as an example of the potential danger of private zoos.

“I did watch ‘Tiger King,’ and I can tell you that the storyline for me wasn’t about animal care. It was really about these characters: Joe Exotic and Doc Antle, Carole Baskin. And their lives and their feuding. It wasn’t about — I didn’t believe the story really focused on husbandry, safety and care,” Stalf said.

Lutz, who appeared on screen briefly during the Zanesville segment, has a more personal connection to the exotic world of “Tiger King.”

He said he went to Tampa, Florida, in October 2019 to visit Big Cat Rescue, Baskin’s sanctuary, and was given a tour and told about the difficulty Baskin was having with Exotic.

Big Cat Rescue was trying to get the Big Cat Public Safety Act passed federally, and Lutz said Baskin was using the Zanesville incident as an example of the consequences of poor regulation to lobby legislators. The act revises regulations on big cat ownership and exhibition, specifically restricting contact between big cats and the public. It has been introduced in the House of Representatives.

Although the documentary doesn’t spend much time talking about Zanesville, Exotic dedicated an episode of his web series to the subject, along with a country music video tribute to the late Thompson. The episode and song pose conspiracy theories accusing police of murdering Thompson and setting his animals free.

Aftermath

The bodies of the 48 animals were buried on the farm, where Lutz said they still remain.

The Ohio Dangerous Wild Animal Act was signed into law by Gov. John Kasich June 5, 2012. It imposed stringent regulations on the owning, selling and trading of dangerous wild animals, and set standards for their containment, identification and treatment. Stalf said the act was drawn up with the help of Columbus Zoo officials.

“There still might be some exotic animals in Ohio, but they are following strict standards of care. And public safety is their top priority. So, it really solved a major issue,” Stalf said.

Although Stalf said there is a safe and proper way to own a tiger, he does not recommend it because of the dangers and expenses.

“This is a prison sentence to you. This animal will live for 25 years. So for 25 years, you have to stay at your house every sin

COURTESY OF TNS Traffic signs warn drivers to stay in their cars because of exotic animals on the loose near Zanesville, Ohio, Oct. 19, 2011.

gle day,” Stalf said. “This animal will never be back out into the wild, and it’s not participating in a breeding program for conservation like zoos do. So what purpose are you providing by owning a large carnivore?”

The athletes and coaches comprising the Ohio Regional Training Center train at the Jennings Family Wrestling Practice Facility, but the club is independently funded and not affiliated with Ohio State.

Former Ohio State wrestlers and NCAA champions Nate Tomasello and Myles Martin train at the facility, as does J’Den Cox, a three-time NCAA champion and two-time world champion who wrestled at Missouri.

News broke on Twitter Wednesday that Moore would become another former Buckeye to join the training center’s ranks. Moore will start training for the Olympics once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

“I am already qualified for the Olympic trials,” Moore said. “That’s one less thing I have to worry about.” WRESTLING FROM 10

Moore’s qualification comes from a runner-up finish at the 2019 Senior Nationals. Moore, who wrestled at 197 pounds at Ohio State, will compete in the 97-kilogram weight class, which translates to about 213 pounds.

“I’m trying to put on some good weight, some muscle mass,” Moore said.

Before Moore’s commitment to Ohio RTC, Pletcher, a Latrobe, Pennsylvania, native, announced on Twitter April 7 that he would return home and train at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club Regional Training Center. While at PWC, Pletcher will be a volunteer assistant for Pitt.

Pletcher is currently spending his time lifting, jogging and searching for a place in his yard to practice wrestling with his brother, he said Friday on BASCHAMANIA, a wrestling podcast.

“[I’m] using this time to heal my body. Four years of college will give you some nice bumps and bruises,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher said that he feels training at PWC is best for his future.

“I want to be a coach, and I felt like coming home and starting some coaching responsibilities where I am comfortable at,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher will likely wrestle in the 65-kilogram weight class, which is about 143 pounds. However, the International Olympic Committee has fewer sanctioned weight classes than that of United World Wrestling, meaning that the world’s best wrestlers from neighboring weight classes could merge into Pletcher’s.

Pletcher has yet to qualify for the Olympic trials. He was hoping to compete in the Last Chance Olympic Trials Qualifier, which would have been held March 27 and 28 and rewarded bids to first- and second-place finishers.

Should he qualify, Pletcher will compete to earn America’s lone spot at 65 kilograms against two familiar foes in Penn State junior Nick Lee and Joey McKenna, a fellow former Buckeye who grad” The next thing is to win a world title and an Olympic title. LUKE PLETCHER Ohio State senior wrestler “

uated one year ago.

Logan Stieber, who won four national titles with Ohio State from 2012 to ’15, has also qualified at 65 kilograms, but he would have to come out of retirement to compete.

Competition is no less stiff for Moore at 97 kilograms, a weight class he’ll share with former Buckeye and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder and Cox. This will make the road to Olympic glory even tougher for Moore.

For Moore and Pletcher, who had their chances at a collegiate national title taken away due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Olympics may be their best shot at taking back the lost opportunity.

“Can’t wait to get back on the mat and get ready for it,” Moore said.

10 | The Lantern | Tuesday, April 14, 2020 Moore, Pletcher fight for Olympic berths

JAKE RICE Lantern reporter rice.992@osu.edu

COVID-19 has taken the wrestling world down.

It started with the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Division I wrestling championships. Then, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics were postponed one year.

For now, at least, Ohio State wrestlers Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher will have to wait as they try to exchange scarlet and gray for red, white and blue.

“The next thing is to win a world title and an Olympic title,” Pletcher said.

And for that, the senior wrestlers will have to find places to train — a pressing need for wrestlers as they transition from the folk-style technique used in collegiate competition to the Greco-Roman and freestyle disciplines seen on the international stage.

Ohio State has an in-house club team that has seen its share of top wrestlers come through its doors since it was founded in 2006, when Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan first came to Columbus, Ohio.

WRESTLING CONTINUES ON 9

GRIFFIN STROM | SPORTS EDITOR Ohio State redshirt senior Kollin Moore, the No. 1 wrestler at 197 pounds, gets his hand raised after a victory Jan. 31. The Buckeyes defeated Maryland 43-3 in a dual meet at the Covelli Center.

CORI WADE | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Ohio State then-sophomore wide receiver Chris Olave (17) gets tackled while carrying the ball down field in the second half of the Big Ten Championship Game against Wisconsin Dec. 7, 2019. Ohio State won 34-21.

far didn’t come in a regular-season game in 2019, when he attained a 19-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio and completed 68 percent of his passes. Rather, it was his mediocre Spring Game outing that proved to be his most head-scratching.

Outside of a 98-yard catch-andrun touchdown toss to then-senior wide receiver Binjimen Victor, Fields finished 3-for-12 with 33 yards passing. His final completion percentage was 24 percent lower than any game he had in 2019, a campaign that saw Fields account for less than three touchdowns in a game just once prior to the Fiesta Bowl.

The out-of-sync April showing was a departure from Fields’ 51-touchdown first year in the program, which earned him a third-place finish in the Heisman Trophy vote eight months after his debut in the ’Shoe.

A similar story unfolded the year prior, when the Spring Game played host to a three-man quarterback battle to help decide who would take the mantle for longtime starter J.T. Barrett.

Dwayne Haskins hardly stood out from the pack with a 120-yard performance on 9-of-19 passing in the 2018 exhibition. In fact, Joe Burrow outdid him on the cards with a 15-for-22, 238-yard game with two touchdowns.

The outcome clearly didn’t dictate the subsequent depth chart though, as Burrow packed his bags for Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Haskins wound up in New York as a Heisman finalist that December following a record-setting 50-touchdown, near-5,000 yard season.

Haskins averaged 225 more yards per game passing throughout the season than he threw for in the 2018 Spring Game and had only two games during the season in which his completion percentage was within 15 percent of his April exhibition.

But the pendulum can also swing in the opposite direction, when a breakout performance in the Spring Game sets up high hopes before a lackluster season come fall.

Such was the case for then-sophomore running back Demario McCall in 2017. McCall made a number of big plays in the Spring Game, chewing up 83 yards on the ground on just six carries and adding 48 more and a touchdown on two catches.

McCall’s speed and versatility as a tailback and pass catcher proved why he was a top 50 high school prospect in the country the year prior, but he accrued just 31 more yards from scrimmage during the 2017 season than he had in the Spring Game before being redshirted.

Perhaps more disappointing is that in the two years since, McCall has failed to reach the total yardage mark he attained in just three games during his redshirt 2017 campaign.

The common thread is that few people even remember these performances due to their less-than-predictive nature and the fact that the Spring Game is a mostly forgettable affair overall.

Although it seems less likely by the day, if the 2020 college football season goes on without a hitch and the Spring Game is played next April, fans may forget they ever missed this one in the first place.

legacy as one of the greatest players in the program’s history.

“Pressure is a privilege, depending on how you look at it,” Dunne said. “I don’t ever want to be a person that crumbles under pressure. Resilience is something I try to take to all aspects of life. Yeah, there’s pressure, but it all depends on how you look at it.”

Despite Muzerall’s assertion that Dunne had the pick of the litter for collegiate destinations, the top-tier prospect landed on an Ohio State program with a mediocre 17-16-3 record in 2014-15.

“During the recruiting process, people encourage you to think about: If you never really played a day here, would you like the school? There’s an aura of excellence here, and you notice it when you’re walking on campus, and I definitely wanted to be a part of that,” Dunne said.

With Muzerall still a year away from taking over the program, Dunne was greeted by new head coach Jenny Potter and the opportunity to unite with her sister Jessica on the team.

But the head injury, a concussion, sidelined her for the entire 2015-16 season.

For most 18-year-olds, adjusting to college is hard enough, but Dunne had to battle both physical and mental obstacles far from her hometown of O’Fallon, Missouri, as a freshman.

“To deal with that when you’re away from home, starting college and school, it was definitely a bigger challenge I faced here,” Dunne said. “Injuries are something that most people struggle with and it took a year to get back into things. After being out for a year, it’s hard once you do something again.”

Dunne said her faith, family, team and love for the university aided her in the first steps back on the ice.

“Jincy has a mental side of being tough. She’s very articulate,” Muzerall said. “She’s hard on herself and she knows when she has made that error and very rarely would she go back and make the same error twice.”

Muzerall and Dunne would reunite the following year — albeit under less-than-ideal circumstances. Muzerall was named the third Ohio State women’s hockey head coach in three years after Potter was fired amid NCAA recruiting violations.

While Muzerall packed her bags for Ohio, Dunne tightened her skates for the start of the 2016-17 season.

“She came here and I’m just happy she stayed. After her redshirt year and how difficult that could’ve been, she could have left,” Muzerall said. “I didn’t get her in Minnesota, but I got round two to coach her at Ohio State and I’m very fortunate to have gotten that.”

Dunne suited up for her first game as a Buckeye Sept. 30, 2016, helping lead the team to a 4-1 victory against Rensselaer as her sister assisted her first career goal.

Dunne quickly blossomed as a leader, earning an alternate captain spot as a redshirt freshman before earning a co-captain title Pressure is a privilege, depending on how you look at it. I don’t ever want to be a person that crumbles under pressure. JINCY DUNNE Ohio State redshirt senior defenseman “ ”

in her redshirt junior and senior years.

She was named the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Defensive Player of the Year each of her final two seasons — an award only one other Ohio State player has received in the program’s history. She captured first team All-American honors both seasons, as well.

“Jincy has the best vision and hockey IQ I’ve coached, and I’ve coached a lot of Olympians,” Muzerall said. “She sees the ice in slow motion and can foresee what the next two or three plays are.”

Dunne’s vision is displayed in her passing. She ranks second in program history among defensemen for assists with 82 and No. 3 in points with 99.

In addition, Dunne’s leadership has left a strong impression on her teammates.

“Coming in freshman year, I played with her and learned a lot, like learning the systems, and she has an unbelievable skill level,” sophomore defenseman Sophie Jaques said. “It’s fun working with her and making stuff happen on the ice.”

Dunne’s poise helped lead this season’s Buckeyes to 24 victories and a .711 winning percentage, a far cry from the 14-18-5 record Ohio State posted in Muzerall’s first season.

The Buckeyes captured their first WCHA Championship, with Dunne named to the 2020 WCHA Final Faceoff All-Tournament team.

Ohio State’s upset win in the conference championship game against No. 2 Wisconsin secured an automatic bid to the NCAA quarterfinals and two weeks to prepare for the 2020 NCAA Women’s Ice Hockey Championship.

Just minutes before departing for Minneapolis, where the tournament was to be held, the NCAA canceled all remaining winter and spring athletic competition due to COVID-19.

“Finding out your season’s ending is hard, especially as a senior when you realize you’re done, but it’s almost crazy because it’s so far out of anyone’s control,” Dunne said. “It’s not a situation where we’ve lost and we’re done. It was every sport.”

Still, Dunne said her tenure has been one of her wildest dreams. It might have been cut short, but Dunne’s time on the ice for the Buckeyes was packed with more accomplishments than most others could claim in the span of two or three college careers.

CORI WADE | ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITOR Ohio State then-redshirt junior defensman Jincy Dunne (33) drives the puck down the ice in the game against Bemidji State Feb 8. Ohio State lost 3-2.