The NCAA Division III Administrative Committee announced Wednesday that winter championships are canceled due to low participation numbers across member schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The sports impacted by the decision are men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s ice hockey and wrestling.
The NCAA’s review showed that participation “well below the established threshold to provide a national championships experience.”
The participation level for men’s and women’s basketball this season is around 47 percent, men’s and women’s swimming and diving around 43 percent, men’s and women’s indoor track and field around 49 percent, men’s and women’s ice hockey around 52 percent and wrestling around 62 percent.
The NCAA planned to cancel championships if levels fell below 60 percent for most of the winter sports, or below 70 percent for hockey or wrestling.
Fayneese Miller, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Hamline, said in a statement, “Today, we made the difficult decision to cancel our Division III winter championships. While some institutions have been able to safely return to sport, the recent declaration form data show that more than half of our division has not returned to winter sport practice and competition to be in a position for NCAA national championship participation.
“This was a very difficult decision to make, and we are saddened to do so. However, none of our winter sports meet the Championships Committee’s established thresholds of participation to hold a championship. We are committed to ensuring that our student-athletes have the best possible experience, and, for us, this means having a meaningful number of competitions. We hope this is possible for our spring championship.”
–Field Level Media
