UPDATE:
The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced at 5:00 p.m. on Thursday that all spring championship and non-championship competitions, along with travel, will be suspended until April 6. This was in their official statement.
“The decision made by the RMAC Presidents Council affects all spring sports including baseball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field,” The RMAC said in their statement. “The suspension also limits the activity of fall sport programs engaged in spring competition or travel including football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball.”
It was first announced by the NCAA that championship competitions will be cancelled but since has developed to all spring competition being suspended due to the COVID-19 virus.
“This is an extraordinary period we are in,” RMAC Commissioner Chris Graham said. “As a membership organization, we are guided by the decisions and actions of our members and always in the best interest of our students and student-athletes.”
ORIGINAL POST:
It may be an overreaction, or it may be the necessary precautions to prevent more widespread exposure. All opinions and theories aside, it is a simple fact this pandemic is affecting everyone in the sporting world.
The NCAA released a statement on Thursday afternoon stating that all national championship events for NCAA winter and spring sports are cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The biggest defacto is the March Madness Tournament and the College World Series. However, this is affecting every single division, college and sport under the NCAA banner.
Colorado Mesa University was the only Div.II school to have at least one competitor all seven winter national championship competitions this week. Sadly, the majority of those athletes will not be able to compete for the prize they have worked all season for.
“This decision is based on the evolving COVID-19 public health threat, our ability to ensure the events do not contribute to spread of the pandemic, and the impracticality of hosting such events at any time during this academic year given ongoing decisions by other entities,” The NCAA said in their statement.
The CMU men’s and women’s swim and dive team was on their way to having multiple competitors represented in the finals of the national championships. Ammar Hassan and Noah Macomber both reached the Men’s 1-meter Diving Finals just minutes before the news broke the rest of the meet would be cancelled.
Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams were en-route to competing in the NCAA regional basketball tournaments but are being forced to return to Grand Junction. Both teams won the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament championships less than a week ago.
“We talked with our girls for a little bit and just talked about the season and what a great job they did, they go out champions,” Women’s Basketball Head Coach Taylor Wagner said. “Still, look back on the year and their relationships and the team and enjoy the success we had and the fun they had together.”
The women flew down to Lubbock, TX on Thursday morning where they were scheduled to face off against Westminster College in the first-round on Friday. Consequently because of the news, they will be returning on the same flight back to Grand Junction on Friday night.
“That’s the biggest thing is that we don’t have control over it,” Wagner said. “The other biggest thing is to look at the bigger picture and there is a problem. People are being affected by it and we can actually help the situation. It might be small but we can still help that situation.”
The hosts for the NCAA Women’s South Central Regional Tournament, Lubbock Christian University, would’ve faced CMU in the second round if both teams advanced. The Chaps knocked CMU out of the tournament last year and were attempting to defend their national championship crown. Their twitter account showed photos of the team embracing each other during shoot-around that their season is now over.
For the CMU men, it would have been the first NCAA Tournament appearance for them since 2011, the first under Head Coach Mike DeGeorge and the first of this type of experience for every single player on the roster.
It is unclear what the rest of the spring athletic schedule will look like as the national championships for all sports have been cancelled by the NCAA. Regular season play is still scheduled to go on.
CMU baseball is supposed to play the Colorado School of Mines this weekend in Golden, CO. On Wednesday, it was announced that fans would not be allowed to enter the games. Other schools in the RMAC like Dixie State, UCCS, MSU-Denver and Colorado Mines have already announced that all regular-season games for all sports will be without fan attendance. That varies depending on the schools if families and relatives are allowed to attend.
Classes at CMU have been moved online for a two-week period starting on March 23, but the buildings and services on campus will continue to remain open.
