Pro, College, Junior High, High School Sports Canceled

Thursday has seen a stunning wave of worldwide cancellations in the sports world due to COVID-19 Coronavirus. Late this afternoon, the NCAA officially canceled the Division 1 men's and women's 2020 basketball tournaments, as well as all remaining winter and spring championships.

Major League Baseball has decided to “suspend baseball operations indefinitely” in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means it will suspend spring training, effective Friday, and will almost certainly delay the start of the 2020 regular season.

-- The NHL will pause the 2019-20 regular season due to the concerns of the coronavirus, the League announced Thursday.

The NHL has 189 games remaining, including 10 scheduled for Thursday. The regular season was scheduled to end April 4, with the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting the week of April 6.

"In light of ongoing developments resulting from the coronavirus, and after consulting with medical experts and convening a conference call of the Board of Governors, the National Hockey League is announcing today that it will pause the 2019 20 season beginning with tonight's games.," the NHL said in a statement.

-- Major League Soccer announced Thursday it was suspending its season for 30 days.

-- The PGA announced that The Players Tournament in Ponte Vedra, Florida, and all tournaments in the near future will be held, but without spectators.

-- The LPGA postponed three tournaments beginning next week.

-- The National Basketball Association was the first to suspend play due to a player developing COVID-19 Coronavirus.

NASCAR released a statement a short while ago, on March 12th, 2020, that the races from Atlanta Motor Speedway will continue as scheduled, however, the events will be closed to spectators and only open to essential racing personal to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The Performance Racing Network will broadcast the events at the below listed times from Atlanta Motor Speedway:

Cup Qualifying March 14 11 AM

NXS Atlanta 250 March 14 2:30 Pm

Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 March 15 NOON

COLLEGE

Men's Basketball

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Further action in the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament has been canceled due to fears about the coronavirus.

A league statement that was released Thursday morning said, "The Big Ten Conference announced today that it will be canceling the remainder of the Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament, effective immediately. The main priority of the Big Ten Conference continues to be the health, safety and wellness of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, fans and media as we continue to monitor all developing and relevant information on the COIVID-19 virus."

Today's games would have been Michigan against Rutgers, Minnesota against Iowa, Purdue against Ohio State and Indiana against Penn State.
Illinois would have played Friday against the winner of the Minnesota vs. Iowa contest.

HIGH SCHOOL

Girls Track

Saturday, March 14

St. Anthony, Effingham, Altamont, Brownstown/St. Elmo, Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City, Cumberland, Newton, Teutopolis at EIU Indoor Meet at Charleston

Saturday, March 21

Boys Track

St. Anthony, Effingham, Altamont, St. Elmo/Brownstown, Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City, Newton, Teutopolis at EIU Indoor Track Meet at Charleston

Girls Track

Newton, Teutopolis at Gene Armour Invite

JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Volleyball

The seventh-grade state finals scheduled for March 13-14 will not be played as scheduled this weekend.

2.  All eighth-grade state series are now suspended. This includes eighth-grade regional championships scheduled for tonight, eighth-grade sectional championships scheduled for Monday, March 16 and the state finals scheduled for March 20-21.

These decisions are not being made lightly.  The IESA will be communicating with state finals hosts, vendors, participating schools and officials as we consider if both the seventh-grade state finals and the remainder of the 8th grade state series could be rescheduled to a different date.  We will also be monitoring CDC updates regarding the spread of the coronavirus.  Multiple factors, such as site availability, an alternative format, etc. must be taken into consideration as we make a decision if, when and how we can complete the remainder of the volleyball state series. 

The tournaments could resume if circumstances would allow the 7th and 8th grade state volleyball series to be held in some format, but this is not guaranteed at either grade level.  One of the factors we have to consider is that schools are currently notifying us that their districts are cancelling all extracurricular activities for an extended period of time.  Most importantly, the health and safety for our student-athletes, team personnel and spectators are our priority.

Wrestling

The Illinois Elementary School Association State Wrestling Finals scheduled for this Friday-Saturday, March 13-14 at the Convocation Center on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb have been canceled.

IESA received word from NIU late Wednesday evening that the University is mandating that this event not be held this weekend due to the coronavirus pandemic.

At this point in time, there are no plans to re-schedule the tournament.  While this is unfortunate for many reasons, IESA has to comply with the directive from Northern Illinois University. The health and safety of the participants and fans attending the finals is a top priority.

Given the nature of the activity, it is an unreasonable expectation to ask athletes to maintain weight controls for an unknown or extended amount of time.  The IESA is very disappointed for the athletes and schools who have worked very hard to participate in this event.

The SIJHSAA continues to monitor the recommendations of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Illinois State Board of Educaiton, and the Governor's Office as it relates to coronavirus (COVID-19).  The SIJHSAA will be taking precautions as needed dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19).

In the last 24 yours the views and perspectives on the virus, its spread and containment, require that the SIJHSAA re-evaluate what we can do to balance the member school interests, the efforts of the student-athletes, families and coaches/directors, with our responsibilities as State Citizens.  The SIJHSAA is doing its best with a rapidly changing situation.

The following updates are provided for the sports of Girls and Boys Bowling and Volleyball.The SIJHSAA continues to monitor the recommendations of the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Illinois State Board of Educaiton, and the Governor's Office as it relates to coronavirus (COVID-19).

The SIJHSAA will be taking precautions as needed dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19).   In the last 24 yours the views and perspectives on the virus, its spread and containment, require that the SIJHSAA re-evaluate what we can do to balance the member school interests, the efforts of the student-athletes, families and coaches/directors, with our responsibilities as State Citizens.  The SIJHSAA is doing its best with a rapidly changing situation.  The following updates are provided for the sports of Girls and Boys Bowling and Volleyball.

The upcoming Girls and Boys Bowling State Series has been canceled until further notice.  This includes the Regionals (March 14) and the State              Finals (March 21).

The Volleyball State Series has been canceled until further notice. (Regionals:  March 17-24 & State Tournament:  March 28)