MIT is the latest NCAA Division III powerhouse program to announce the cancellation of its 2020-2021 winter athletics season as coronavirus cases spike around the country. As this list grows, it begins to appear less-and-less likely that any winter sports championships will happen in the division.
MIT, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, finished 6th on the men’s side and 9th on the women’s side at the last NCAA Championship meet in 2019. Both the men’s and women’s teams have top 5 finishes at that meet in the last decade, including a high mark of 5th for the women in 2017 and 3rd for the men’s team in 2013.
Both teams are also the defending NEWMAC Conference champions. The NEWMAC has already canceled its 2021 conference championship meets.
The announcement came as part of the broader university announcement for the spring academic semester, which will continue to see only a portion of the student-body allowed on campus. Specifically, that will include current first-years, sophomores, and juniors will be allowed to live and learn on campus, but will only be allowed to access campus facilities if they also live on campus. Seniors facing hardship circumstances will be allowed on campus as well.
Many subjects will continue to be taught exclusively online, and the semester will start 2 weeks later than planned and with a 2-week period of exclusively online education.
“Due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases across the region and the country, we have made the difficult decision to cancel athletics competition for the upcoming winter sports season,” said Dr. G. Anthony Grant, MIT director of athletics and DAPER department head. “As with every decision that we make here at MIT, we are doing so with the health and safety of our student-athletes and community at the forefront of our minds.”
The school says that it will make a decision about spring sports in January, warning student-athletes that MIT “would not engage in competition under current Covid conditions.”
“We know this announcement will be disappointing to our winter sports student-athletes, but this decision is in the best interest of protecting their well-being and that of the whole MIT campus,” said Suzy M. Nelson, vice president and dean for student life. “We will continue working together to keep Covid at bay in our community.”
Other varsity sports impacted by the decision includes men’s and women’s basketball, fencing, rifle, squash, and men’s and women’s indoor track & field.
The announcement also canceled all winter club sports competition and travel.
Last week, the Division III Management Council approved a ‘blanket waiver’ that will allow all Division III athletes to have an extra season of eligibility regardless of whether they compete this season or not.
From the 2019 NCAA Championship meet, at least 4 of the top 10 men’s teams from last season have canceled their seasons: #2 Emory, #6 MIT, #7 Williams, and #9 Amherst on the men’s side have already that they won’t participate in the 2020-2021 season.
On the women’s side, #1 Emory, #4 Williams, #5 NYU, #8 Amherst, and #9 MIT have all canceled their 2020-2021 seasons.
In addition to those listed above, many major D3 swimming & diving conferences have suspended conference competition, including winter sports championships, for the season, though some of those schools are hoping to still put together an athletics schedule without the conference competition.
Massachusetts has seen an 82% increase in new coronavirus infections over the last 14 days, which has coincided with a 4% increase in deaths and 13% increase in hospitalizations. That is part of a two-week period that has seen the United States have a 44% increase in new infections and 13% increase in average new daily deaths attributed to COVID-19.
The country is averaging over 85,000 new coronavirus infections daily and over 800 new deaths daily.
Another advantage of swimming in outdoor pools in CA/AZ — harder to catch the virus swimming outdoor than in humid and stuff air around indoor pools. Lots of great NCAA D1-D3 swimming programs out west!
Very unfortunate. On the upside, MIT doesn’t have a DI football team so it’s unlikely they will cut S&D with the excuse of trying to make up for a “budget shortfall”.