I haven't seen anything posted about it yet, but both the America East and NEC have announced the cancelation of their Indoor Championships. Are we going to start to see more of this in the coming weeks?
I haven't seen anything posted about it yet, but both the America East and NEC have announced the cancelation of their Indoor Championships. Are we going to start to see more of this in the coming weeks?
Yes, I imagine that it will resemble the fall; some conferences move forward while others do not. When you consider the virus, the fact that schools are trying to reduce athletic expenses, and that schools could potentially opt in to a winter XC season it definitely points to a piece meal indoor competition year.
I do have a hard time seeing the NCAA sponsoring both an indoor and an XC championship this winter. I think it will be one or the other, and while there will be schools and conferences that choose to push ahead with the opposite season I think most conferences will choose to participate in the NCAA sponsored championship. I think very few schools will do XC while everyone else in the program participates in indoor.
There are far more schools that participate in indoor track than HAVE indoor tracks. Many parts of the south and west don't have tracks within 4 hours driving of their campus.
I can't imagine indoor meets looking the same as they always have with teams sitting shoulder to shoulder on the floor where there is barely enough space to even walk. So that means that fewer teams even allowed to attend meets they have in the past.
That is if things remain status quo. But if the infection rate increases as predicted.....who knows what January and February will look like.
As mentioned, universities are going to be looking to save money. Our sport(s) are lucky that we have 2 to 3 seasons in a year unlike other sports. It would be nice if the NCAA, or the conference would just say........"out of an abundance of caution, we are focusing all of our efforts on outdoor track and will be eliminating the cross country and indoor seasons. We know this will disappoint some, but it is for the greater good."
I'm betting the ACC will continue with their indoor conference championship. They pushed through for XC this fall and things haven't blown up at all really. Also, the ACC is littered with indoor tracks that will allow teams to do tri/quad meets where they can still socially distance and mitigate proper covid protocol.
As for NCAAs, i'm betting indoor track national championships gets canceled again (crazy to think it's almost been a year) and everyone may just head to Oklahoma mid March. Even the ACC ahtletes.
2500 kids at VA Showcase and hundreds of college meets are happening.
Just a few that have canceled so far, Big South, NJAC, MPSF, WAC, all meets at the Armory. I’m sure there’s others I’ve missed too