Due to low participation numbers among member schools, NCAA Division III winter championships have been canceled for the 2020-21 academic year.
The NCAA made the announcement Wednesday.
The national championships affected are men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s hockey, and wrestling.
“Today, we made the difficult decision to cancel our Division III winter championships,” said Fayneese Miller, chair of the NCAA Presidents Council and president at Hamline, in a statement. “While some institutions have been able to safely return to sport, the recent declaration form data show that more than half of our division has not returned to winter sport practice and competition to be in a position for NCAA national championship participation.
“This was a very difficult decision to make, and we are saddened to do so. However, none of our winter sports meet the championships committee’s established thresholds of participation to hold a championship. We are committed to ensuring that our student-athletes have the best possible experience, and, for us, this means having a meaningful number of competitions. We hope this is possible for our spring championships.”
During its review of the declaration data, the championships committee determined participation numbers in all nine winter sports are well below the established threshold to provide a national championships experience. These established thresholds are 60 percentfor men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, and men’s and women’s indoor track and field, and 70 percent for men’s and women’s ice hockey and wrestling.
