Local colleges cancel, delay fall sports

St. Norbert, Lawrence, UWGB place sports on hold

The Brillion News

There will be no fall sports at St. Norbert College in De Pere nor at Lawrence University in Appleton, as the Midwest Conference suspended all sports for the remainder of 2020. The decision was announced on Monday, July 27.

In addition, the Horizon League, a mid-major NCAA Division I conference that includes the UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee, announced that no athletic competition will take place prior to October 1 this year.

SNC and LU

The Midwest Conference announced that it will suspend league competition through December 31.

The conference said presidents of the 10 member institutions made the decision in coordination with representative athletic directors “in order to protect the health and safety of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administration, their families, and broader campus and local communities.”

The Midwest Conference joins a growing number of NCAA Division III schools that have suspended fall and winter sports. “We did everything we could over the past couple of months to develop schedules, event management protocols and testing policies so that we could compete this fall,” said MWC Executive Director Heather Benning. “However, due to the recent sustained surge of cases across the country, and a lack of guaranteed access to timely and reliable testing with the frequency recommended by the NCAA, the conference does not feel it is in a position to sponsor intercollegiate athletic competition at this time.” She said member colleges are committed to maintaining engaging and significant team experiences for their student-athletes, which could include opportunities for practice, small-group training, skill development and/or strength & conditioning. Engagement in limited non-conference competition remains at the discretion of individual institutions.

The conference said itd would continue to monitor factors impacting the decision for suspension of the fall and winter sport seasons, and take action to resume athletic competition when it is deemed safe to do so.

Up in smoke

The Horizon League Council decided to delay the start of fall competition for all sports with the understanding that if competition occurs, it will not begin before October 1. The league’s two Wisconsin members are the UW-Green Bay and UW-Milwaukee.

The delay in competition includes all exhibition, League and non-League contests in all sports (championship and non-championship).

Decisions related to training and practice will be left to member universities’ discretion. Rescheduling of non-conference contests impacted by the postponed start of the fall seasons will be determined by each school. The Horizon League’s Council said it would continue to monitor developments related to COVID-19, and evaluate fall schedules and competitions with the understanding that there may be future changes.