Pennsylvania 2A HS State Meet Postponed, 3A Meet ‘Truncated’ From Coronavirus

Pennsylvania has postponed the second of its high school state swimming & diving meets, the next in a wave of events upended by the novel 2019 coronavirus.

Pennsylvania’s PIAA is in the midst of its 3A state meets, for the state’s bigger high schools. That two-day meet was explosive on day 1, with a national high school record 19.24 in the 50 free from Matt Brownstead and a 1:43.98 IM from Rick Mihm, among many other great swims. That meet is set to continue today with the remainder of the meet lineup.

Update: a new release from the PIAA says the 3A meet will be “truncated” and will conclude at the end of the mid-day diving session. That means finals of the second-half of the meet will not take place tonight.

However, the 2A meet, for the state’s smaller schools, was supposed to run on Friday and Saturday (March 13-14). According to the PIAA on Twitter, that meet will be postponed, with no make-up date yet set:

Local reporter Diana Pugliese has tweeted that the 2A meet could be held in two weeks, depending on how the coronavirus outbreak develops.

 

Both the 2A and 3A meets were being held Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. As of this morning, Bucknell has recalled all students on study abroad programs and canceled classes for next week, moving academic programs online while instructing students to move out of on-campus housing within the next week, except for those who fill out a petition for special circumstances. The school’s conference the Patriot League, has already suspended all athletics practices and competitions.

The outbreak of the 2019 novel coronavirus, which originated in China, has caused a flood of cancellations of athletic events over concerns that large groups of people could aid the spread of the virus and its associated illness, COVID-19.

According to the CDC, Pennsylvania currently has 19 reported cases of COVID-19, but the larger cities of the east coast have been hit especially hard, with 173 cases in New York and 15 more in New Jersey.

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Crushed
4 years ago

Question: Do you support making an already completed prelim session a timed final 3hrs after it’s over and 5 hours before the final session was suppose to begin, with no prior warning that could happen?

Emily
4 years ago

I’m a junior in pa AA and we found out by the security guards as we were coming to check-in and warmup. It was absolutely heartbreaking and I was suppose to swim 4 events. The whole way we found out was horrible and really upsetting. I just hope they hold this meet in two weeks.

Scott S
4 years ago

My son was slated to swim in three relays in the boys 2A this weekend. He is disappointed, but he’s only a junior. I feel bad for the seniors, especially if they decide to not have it at all

jim
4 years ago

There were teams literally traveling TO the State meet, that coaches had to tell their kids that there will be no State meet, and they had to turn around and go back home. How crushing is that for the kids…who probably don’t understand the higher importance of why this is all happening. But even still, it’s sad for them.

Lpman
4 years ago

So I’m confused…AAA finals are cancelled and not postponed?

Daniel Jablonski
4 years ago

PIAA has had some really unfortunate luck in the past 4 years. Timed finals one year because of the snow, and now this. 2020 grads are getting a real short end of the stick

Z man
Reply to  Daniel Jablonski
4 years ago

At least they told the teams ahead of time the prelims would be timed finals before the meet. How do you run day 1 with prelims and finals, and tell the kids after day 2 prelims completed not only will there be no finals but those will be the final results?

DravenOP
4 years ago

Should just cancel it.

Entgegen
Reply to  DravenOP
4 years ago

The team race is too close to call and so many swimmers have a lot left in the tank after morning prelims because they secured a second swim. Canceling it would do injustice to the coaches and swimmers who have worked hard to get where they are.

DravenOP
Reply to  Entgegen
4 years ago

Doesnt matter. Indefinitely postponing it does no one favors, especially in a sport like swimming where timing for taper really matters. Just cancel it and be done with it. Its high school swimming, not the end of the world.

paswimmer
4 years ago

Coming from a former PA swimmer, what upsetting news. At least hold the meets without spectators – from what I understand, COVID-19 cannot be sustained in chlorinated water. Let the swimmers finish off their high school season! Delaying it for maybe another two weeks really messes with a taper that’s already there.

Theswammer
Reply to  paswimmer
4 years ago

I don’t get why people keep saying this. COVID-19 is spread in the air. There’s a reason the biggest sport federations in the world are suspending their season full stop. If anyone, they’re the ones in contact with the real professionals.

Why risk it and run non-essential meets/events?

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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