Coronavirus crunch: CIF cancels spring high school state tournaments
With high schools shuttered across the state in an effort to quell the spread of the coronavirus, the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for high school sports, announced Friday it was canceling all spring regional and state championship events after a conference call with the state’s 10 section commissioners.
This does not come as a surprise since spring sports barely got up and running once the coronavirus started to spread to the point of a global health crisis. But it does add the final blow of profound disappointment for scores of student-athletes, teams and towns that the plug has been pulled on competition.
Without any league games being contested in sports, there was no buildup for section playoff action, which feeds the NorCal and SoCal brackets for sports such as swimming and track and field.
Said the CIF in a statement, “Based on the recent statements issued by Governor Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, regarding schools turning to distance learning for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, the California Interscholastic Federation does not see an avenue for the spring sports season to continue. As such, in consultation today with the 10 Section Commissioners, the decision has been made to cancel spring Section, Regional, and State Championship events.”
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 2:18 PM.