The Centennial Conference Presidents Council announced Thursday that it will cancel conference competition and championships for all fall and winter sports in 2020-21 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Centennial Conference comprises 11 private institutions in Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Swarthmore, Franklin & Marshall and Johns Hopkins. The schools compete in Division III.
The list of sports impacted, in addition to men’s and women’s swimming, includes men’s and women’s cross country, field hockey, football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s indoor track and field and wrestling.
From a conference statement:
This difficult decision was made following several months of meetings and discussions among all levels of the Conference governance structure. Extensive strategies were evaluated as to how to safely and effectively conduct Conference competitions for fall and winter sports during the spring semester. Ultimately, a number of factors impacted this decision, including the rising number of COVID-19 cases across the country, the shift of spring academic calendars to a later start, campus policies regarding travel, group size and visitors to campus, and the ability to meet recommended NCAA testing guidelines.
#CentConf statement regarding fall and winter sports
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— CentennialConference (@CentennialConf) December 10, 2020
The Centennial had been among the early conferences to act in the summer, cancelling all competition for the fall semester by the first week in July. Conditions remain untenable to resume varsity athletics when the winter semester begins in January.
Thursday’s decision does not leave open the possibility of schools competing independently or outside of the conference competitions, though there is hope to schedule fall/winter competitions during the spring season, if the COVID-19 conditions ease regionally and nationally. Thursday’s statement only pledged to “continue to find meaningful ways to engage student-athletes in athletic activities.”
The outlook for spring competition, which was suspended last year, will be re-evaluated in January. Division III athletes will not lose a year of eligibility, the NCAA has previous decreed.
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Liberty League & Ivy League as well I believe. Not many east coast leagues left.