The Mountain East Conference, which includes colleges from West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland, announced it is delaying the start of fall sports until at least Oct. 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The conference said it is also delaying the start of official practice for football to Sept. 7, and for all other fall sports to Sept. 14. Contests in team sports originally scheduled for between Sept. 4-30 will be played in the spring semester, the conference said.
Conference tournaments for men’s and women’s golf and men’s and women’s cross country are still scheduled for the fall, but conference tournaments for men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball will be scheduled for the spring semester. Men’s and women’s basketball are scheduled to begin competition in the fall semester under this adjusted plan, the conference said.
“This announcement of our adjusted plans demonstrates our commitment to the well-being of our student-athletes and campus communities as well as our efforts to provide a meaningful experience for our student-athletes through competition this fall if public health conditions allow,” said conference commissioner Reid Amos in a statement. “These plans give us the necessary time and flexibility to consider resocialization on our campuses as well as the public health implications specific to the geographic areas of our institutions while maintaining the health and safety of our student-athletes as our chief priority.”
