The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously on Tuesday, Aug. 11, to suspend all sports competition until Jan. 1, 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Swimming and diving is a winter sport, along with basketball, that will be affected by the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was sad to find out that our season is being pushed back, but thankful that the GLIAC is hoping to start in January,\u201d Grand Valley State swimmer Claire Meeuwsen told Swimming World<\/em>. \u201cSo I\u2019m going to do everything I can to be ready and in good shape for when we can compete again.\u201d<\/p>\n Division II had already pulled the plug on fall championships (football, volleyball, cross country, soccer, golf, tennis), leaving it up to conferences to decide if they would\u00a0 play. The GLIAC will try to have fall sports in the spring of 2021.<\/p>\n “Our council of presidents and GLIAC athletic directors weighed this decision from every angle, hoping to find a feasible option for student-athletes to compete this fall, but in the end, the potential risks to student-athletes, coaches, support staff and fans made fall competition impossible,” said Dr. Richard Pappas<\/strong> of Davenport University, who is the GLIAC Council of Presidents and Chancellors chair for 2020-21. “Plans to provide fall teams with competition opportunities during the spring semester are a priority for the league. We look forward to getting our student-athletes back on campus so they can resume training, and our members remain devoted to providing a quality student-athlete experience despite these challenging circumstances.”<\/p>\n GLIAC student-athletes will have opportunities to practice and take part in athletic training programs in adherence to NCAA, institutional, local and state guidelines.<\/p>\n “The decision to suspend all sports competition this fall was extremely difficult,” GLIAC Commissioner Kris Dunbar<\/strong> said. “After thoroughly\u00a0reviewing federal, state, and NCAA\u00a0SSI (Sport Science Institute) and Board of Governor’s guidelines, it became apparent that conducting contests and championships this fall was insurmountable. My frustration\u00a0and sadness for the coaches, student-athletes, families and fans is unmitigated. The\u00a0league will continue to work on protocols for a safe return for our athletic programs, with the health and safety of our student-athletes and staff taking the highest priority.”<\/p>\n Further, the GLIAC will continue to gather information and monitor developments in order to best determine a competitive structure during the second semester. The winter and spring sports competition calendar will be announced at a later date.<\/p>\n Grand Valley State Director of Athletics\u00a0Keri Becker<\/strong>\u00a0added,\u00a0“GVSU coaches and administration will shift our focus to preparing our student-athletes for a return to campus and ultimately a safe return to practicing the sports they love through implementation of NCAA guidelines and institutional safety measures. We will continue to develop talent and leadership through the context of sport by engaging them on the practice fields and beyond. We remain committed to provided the best student-athlete experience, by achieving student-athlete success academically, athletically, and socially. We will create championship excellence in all that we do to deliver this experience and we will not and \u00a0cannot do this alone, so will engage our campus and community. In the end, this experience, though not want any of us planned \u00a0will create champions for life and in life.”<\/p>\n The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), founded in 1972, has been a leader in the advancement and promotion of intercollegiate athletics for men and women for 48 years. The charter members of the GLIAC were Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Lake Superior State University, Northwood University, and Saginaw State University. The current membership now includes 12 full members: Ashland University, Davenport University, Ferris State University, Grand Valley State University, Lake Superior State University, Michigan Technological University, Northern Michigan University, Northwood University, Purdue University Northwest, Saginaw Valley State University, Wayne State University, and the University of Wisconsin Parkside. The Conference has grown to offer championships in 21 sports while rising to prominence on the national level as GLIAC teams and student-athletes have achieved success both in the classroom and on the fields of play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Council of Presidents and Chancellors voted unanimously on Tuesday, Aug. 11, to suspend all sports competition until Jan. 1, 2021, because of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3915,"featured_media":300491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[122077,6],"tags":[91022,108129],"class_list":["post-443731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas","category-college","tag-gliac-swimming","tag-grand-valley-state-swimming"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n