The high school sports season is drawing to a conclusion for most student-athletes, with Upper Peninsula finals taking place in spring sports this week, wrapping up what has been almost a normal season.

Of course, some teams will take their U.P. titles on to compete for Michigan High School Athletic Association championships in the coming weeks. But for most, this week marks the conclusion of another school year impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

As we said, it was almost a normal season, at least compared to the fall and winter sports months during which just about every school had to rearrange schedules because of positive coronavirus tests within their own team or on an opponent’s roster.

With spring sports being outdoors — and many mask mandates changing as the year progressed — it was a different ball game in many ways than the other seasons for high schools.

We must congratulate school athletic directors for creating plans that allowed their student-athletes a chance to compete, something important to the high school population, especially the seniors.

We salute those who won championships or set records during the 2021 spring sports season, but in this instance, we really believe all these young women and men are winners, just for being able to compete at all in these pandemic days.