The Ivy League has just announced that they will be cancelling all sporting events that are currently scheduled for the spring of 2020. The NCAA Division I conference, made up of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale came to a unanimous decision made by the presidents of each school.
The swim season for some Ivy League schools wrapped up last month with the women’s and men’s conference championship meets. But with women’s NCAAs next week and men’s NCAAs a week after that, it’s now up to individual schools whether they will compete or not. Harvard specifically noted that it will “cancel all winter postseason play,” which means Harvard swimmers and divers will not compete at NCAAs.
Harvard had qualified three women and four men for NCAAs in swimming, plus three women’s divers:
- Mikaela Dahlke, senior
- Felicia Pasadyn, freshman
- Jaycee Yegher, junior
- Elizabeth Miclau, freshman (diver)
- Georgina Milne, junior (diver)
- Esther Lawrence, sophomore (diver)
- William Grant, freshman
- Umitcan Gures, sophomore
- Jacob Johnson, sophomore
- Michael Zarian, junior
Other Ivy League schools with swimmers invited include Columbia (Albert Gwo), Penn (Catherine Buroker) and Princeton (Ellie Marquardt, Raunak Khosla). Diving invites are also now set, and the Ivy League was also set to qualify divers from Princeton (Mimi Lin, Charlie Minns, Colten Young), Dartmouth (Justin Sodokoff), Cornell (Brett Hebert), and Yale (Christian DeVol). There has been no official word on whether those schools will attend NCAAs.
Update: Princeton’s coaching staff says they will still attend NCAAs for both men and women.
Update: A Cornell spokesperson says they are also still set to compete, as of now. That leaves Columbia, Penn, Dartmouth, and Yale still up in the air.
This decision builds on Tuesday’s call to cancel both the men’s and women’s four-team basketball tournaments. The tournaments were set to be held at Harvard’s Lavietes Pavilion in Cambridge, Massachusetts. As a result, the Princeton women and Yale men have been given the conferences NCAA bids, based on regular season results.
Also cancelled were the men’s and women’s hockey tournaments that were scheduled for this weekend.
Robin Harris, Executive Director of the Ivy League said of the situation “Regrettably, the information and recommendations presented to us from public health authorities and medical professionals have convinced us that this is the most prudent decision”
The Ivy League is based out of the Eastern United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control, here are the number of reported cases in each state housing an Ivy League school:
- New York (Columbia, Cornell): 173
- Massachusetts (Harvard): 91
- New Jersey (Princeton): 15
- Pennsylvania (Penn): 12
- Connecticut (Yale): 1 to 5
- Rhode Island (Brown): 1 to 5
- New Hampshire (Dartmouth): 1 to 5
I’m getting myself a nice lawyer if I am one of those kids. My kid went twice and then was the first one on the outside her senior year so I know up close what an honor it is to go and how tough it is to make it in. I get the risks but at least let the athlete and family make that choice.
Hmmmm. Old men have the highest fatality rates from Coronavirus. Who’s making the decisions on policy right now? Old men. Is this a health crisis or self-preservation. Vote down if you are an old man!
Penn also had a female swimmer invited.
Penn’s Catherine Buroker qualified too. We’ll have to see what the schools decide for the rest of the league…
That is the dumbest move yet.
Harvard has a swim team?
Weird burn given that the men were 8th at NCAAs last year.
Better than yours.
Will they re seed the invoice lists or use alternates?
My educated guess is use alternates, because they shouldn’t change the procedure based on ‘the reason why someone pulls out of the meet.’ This is uncharted territory, though.
Given that these scratches appear to be coming after the invites were already officialized, it appears the NCAA would use alternates.
Any confirmation on the alternates officially getting in?
Not yet.
Alternates are in.