MOORHEAD — NCAA Division II canceled its seven fall championships, the Division II Presidents Council decided Wednesday, Aug. 5, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Minnesota State Moorhead is a member of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, which competes in Division II.
"It hurts," MSUM athletic director Doug Peters said. "I get it. I understand that we're in the middle of a global pandemic, but it still hurts to see the loss of the championship opportunities for our fall student-athletes."
NSIC commissioner Erin Lind tweeted this out Wednesday: "(The NSIC) will continue to navigate the impact the pandemic will have on conference competition in the coming days. My heart hurts for the outstanding young women and men who compete in fall sports. WE will get through this!"
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Part of the NCAA statement read: "The council made the move after the NCAA Board of Governors directed each division to make a decision on its fall sport championships. The Board of Governors also directed each division to meet various requirements to compete in the fall. Those directives include that all member institutions apply the re-socialization principles to fall sports and set a 50% sponsorship threshold for a fall sport championship to be conducted, among other requirements. As of Wednesday, 11 of the 23 Division II conferences had announced they will not compete during the traditional fall season."
The statement continued: "The Division II Presidents Council determined that it was not feasible to hold fall championships as planned or to postpone them to the spring while prioritizing the health and well-being of student-athletes."
The NSIC recently decided to delay the start of its fall sports seasons. Peters was asked if the league would play a regular season without the fall NCAA championships.
"I'm not optimistic we will be playing sports in the fall," Peters said.
The NSIC has an athletic administrators meeting scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 6, and Presidents and athletic administrators meeting slated for next week.
