Swim Poll of the Week: How Far in Advance Should High School State Championships Be Cancelled Due to COVID?

This is the Swim Poll of the Week for Thursday November 12, 2020, sponsored by Strechcordz Swim Training Products. In our last poll, we wanted to know: How far in advance should high school state championships be cancelled due to COVID-19?

The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association has canceled the 2020-21 winter postseason for all high school winter sports in the state.

The decision was made because of the affects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and affects swimming and diving directly.

According to reports, the MIAA Board of Directors voted to cancel the 2020-21 winter postseason, following the recommendation of its COVID-19 Task Force and Tournament Management Committee. The vote was unanimous.

The MIAA Board also voted to keep its current winter start and end dates of, respectively, Nov. 30 and Feb. 21. So the winter regular seasons could still happen in full, but the postseason, that would bring large groups from different regions together, was canceled.

It has been a tough year for Massachusetts high school sports. The Fall season will end without a tournament, while Spring 2020 never happened and Winter 2019-20 was called off days before state championships were to take place.

A final decision on the fate of the winter sports season from the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) will come next week as the COVID-19 pandemic intensifies in the state.

The decision will come no later than Nov. 20, says Colleen Maguire, the NJSIAA’s chief operating officer. New Jersey opted for a four-season calendar in 2020-21 and had already cancelled championships for the academic year. But an uptick in coronavirus cases has called into question if the season can be conducted at all.

“I ask for everyone’s patience as we solicit feedback and monitor the decision-making coming from the New Jersey Department of Health and the governor’s office, while committing to a deadline of Friday, Nov. 20, to announce our final plans,” Maguire said at the monthly meeting of the NJSIAA executive committee Wednesday, as first reported by NJ.com. “I fully expect to meet this deadline with a final plan that will not be subject to change, regardless of the decisions that may come from the Department of Health or the governor’s office on the status of indoor sports after we release our plans.”

The plan that the NJSIAA released last month outlined a Dec. 3 start for practices and Dec. 21 as the first competition date. This is the second of four seasons on the calendar (instead of the usual three), designed to run through Feb. 17. Season 3, for fall indoor sports that couldn’t be played in Season 1, will run from Feb. 16-April 24.

Even with state championships months away, states are deciding on the fate of the season now. Do you agree with this?

Here are the results for when state championships should be called:

60 days – 19%

30 days – 28%

14 days – 22%

Never – 31%

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