The NCAA announced Thursday it would cancel all winter and spring championships for all three of its divisions. This comes as a precautionary measure to help reduce the spread and effect of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus).
In addition, all other athletic events will be postponed until April 6, when the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference will reassess conditions.
For Westminster, this means the women’s basketball team will not face Colorado Mesa in the NCAA championship as scheduled. It also affects the men’s and women’s skiing championships, with the announcement coming during the second day of the tournament.
The NCAA released its statement:
Today, NCAA President Mark Emmert and the Board of Governors canceled the Division I men’s and women’s 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring NCAA championships,” a statement from the NCAA said. “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.
In addition, the RMAC President’s Council decided to suspend all championship and non-championship spring sport competitions and travel until at least April 6.
This comes the same day Westminster announced it would extend spring break another week before moving classes online until the end of the month. The administration also announced it would cancel all domestic and international May Term trips.
