Every once in a while, I hear an athlete or a coach complain about a long bus trip to a game. Few ever use a long ride or a traffic jam as an excuse for a poor performance, but, I agree, it’s still an annoyance to sit on a bus for an hour or two. I know. I get caught in the same traffic and I hate it too.

When that happens, I usually think about my nieces who play high schools sports in northern Minnesota. Their town, Bemidji, is a four-hour drive north of Minneapolis. It has just one high school. The closest high school to them – and their nearest athletics opponent – is in Grand Rapids. That’s 75 miles away.

Chelsea, the ace softball pitcher and a senior this year, has probably spent more time on a bus traveling to games in three seasons of softball than any athlete around here who plays three sports.

Her sister Jessica, an 8th grader who already plays on Bemidji’s JV volleyball team, could log well over 10,000 miles on a bus by the time she graduates, because she plays three sports.

Think that’s an exaggeration? Consider Jess’s last eight days.

Since Oct. 7, Jess has played three away matches -- the closest yesterday at Lake of the Woods. That’s about 102 driving miles and more than two hours from home – one way! She left Bemidji High School at 1:30 p.m. and wasn’t expected back until 11:30 or midnight. (That included a stop to eat on the way home, of course.)

Saturday, her team played in a tournament at Alexandria, which is more than 130 miles away, but they drove down on Friday and spent the night. On Oct. 7, she played at East Grand Forks, 115 miles from home.

For those three matches alone, Jess’s team logged about 700 miles and spent around 16 hours on the bus without ever leaving northern Minnesota.

That’s how it is for many high school teams in the Midwest. Sure they don’t have to put up with the traffic, but boy do they roll up the mileage.

By comparison, some of the longest league treks for local teams don’t seem so far. St. Mary’s in Annapolis to John Carroll in Bel Air is about 57 miles. Liberty in Eldersburg to North Hagerstown is about 60 miles. The winner seems to be John Carroll to St. John’s-College Prep in Frederick at about 77 driving miles.

Next time I go to the ends of our coverage area -- Southern, Francis Scott Key or North Harford -- I’ll just be glad they’re as close as they are. I’d rather wear out my car traveling to and from Bemidji during the summer.

- Katherine Dunn