Update 2: the meet has been delayed until 6:30 Eastern to give teams some extra time to prepare. A tornado watch, which is a lower level of alert than a tornado warning, is in effect until 9:00 Eastern.
Update: the meet has been delayed until 6:20 Eastern
Adding more challenges on to an already challenging meet, and season, a tornado warning issued for Greensboro, North Carolina will delay the start of Thursday night’s finals session at the NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships. The session will now start at 6:20 Eastern instead of 6:00 Eastern.
Reports from the facility are that coaches and athletes have been sent to bathroom and locker room facilities to take cover during the warning.
The National Wather Service issued a tornado warning after the conculsion of consolation diving. It’s set to expire at 6:00 Eastern Time, the same as the start time for the meet, meaning nobody will be able to get on deck until then.
The National Weather Service bulletin says that “at 454 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over High Point, moving northeast at 40mph.”
The alert also says that “Radar indicated rotation” and hail greater than .75 inches in diameter.
The storm was expected to approach Greensboro around 5:25 Eastern Time, though one coach who is not at the facility says that rain has already stopped at his team hotel, so the storm appears to be passing quickly.
This storm is part of the same system that impacted the Division II Championships in Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday.
For the male coaches, which make up the majority of the coaching staffs even at the women’s meet, that means hunkering in one bathroom that has been dedicated for men at the meet. A high degree of testing for COVID-19 at the championships helps reduce concerns about spreading within close quarters, but doesn’t fully eliminate that concern.
SwimSwam has reached out to the NCAA to ask about specifically how long the meet will be delayed, but has not received a response as of posting.
Glad it is just a Tornado and not a relay DQ!
Is there a way to watch espn3 if I have YouTube tv but it’s thru the internet not a tv provider. ? Thanks much.
Gods plan.
God hates DiGiorno pizza.
Truth hurts lizzo.
The what now?
I’d like to meet you Beth Mahoney
So the athletes/coaches are all going into the locker rooms/bathrooms? Does anyone know how many people will be in each one/how close they’ll be together? The NCAA is putting on a big show about not letting athletes to the pool to cheer for their teammates if they aren’t swimming that session, but the restrictions just went out the door it seems like.
It’s an emergency situation. What do you expect them to do?
I was under the impression covid is also an emergency situation.
Again, what do you expect them to do?
I think they should shelter in the locker rooms. I’m more so against the restrictions put on the swimmers for the meet. There is absolutely no reason not to let others at the session, and swimming relays in small heats just doesn’t make sense. So many of these covid rules at recent meets are solely in place for optics. They’re being tested every day. Let them be there and just run the meet normally. The NCAA can’t talk about how many precautions they want to put in place and then throw them out. Just hypocrisy but I don’t know
You should’ve just led with that instead of playing a silly game.
Then we would’ve all known to just ignore you in the first place.
The athletes in the fall demanded better COVID safety rules. While their parents have continued to protest those rules, the NCAA is giving the athletes what they asked for. Shouldn’t that count for something?
Many of the athletes wanted the rules so that they could have a season I agree. I think masks are important and should be worn, but some of the rules put in place just seem like they’re there for optics, especially with the amount of testing going on
But surely if someone tests positive, it is highly likely that they were spreading covid for at least 24 hours prior to that, hence the need for precautions eg 4 relay teams in each heat so less people behind the blocks in a small space.
Testing is detective, not preventative. Other precautions are meant to prevent or reduce potential transmission should someone be ill.
Well now you know
Swim Karen’s coming out to speak to the manager of the weather
Of course restrictions will go out the door when the safety of the swimmers is at risk at that moment from something greater.
Not really sure what choice they have. The two emergencies either mean you go outside and risk one or stay sheltered and risk the other…
True you are right. They should have known that there would be a tornado warning so they could have planned a pandemic-friendly way to protect themselves.
At this point I honestly just think the swim gods are pissed at Phelps retiring. There’s no other explanation for the events of the past 400 days