More college swimming and diving meets scheduled have been canceled due to COVID-19 and the new surge with the omicron variant.
On average, national COVID-19 numbers and trends keep increasing. Hospitals are easily overwhelmed due to the number of cases present and the loss of positive staff members. As a whole, the US has 229 cases per 100,000 people.
UMBC and Howard
The UMBC and Howard University dual meet scheduled for January 15th at UMBC has been canceled due to “due to COVID-19 related concerns within the Howard program”.
Washington D.C., where Howard is located, is currently experiencing 245 cases per 100,000 people. Cases there have been steady the past few weeks.
UMBC said that they are instead planning to host an intrasquad meet which allows for senior day to still be celebrated. This is the first cancellation this season for both teams.
Oakland and Youngstown
The Oakland University and Youngstown State University dual meet scheduled for January 15th has been “canceled due to COVID-related matters.” The meet was planned to be held at Oakland University.
Neither school has had a cancellation so far this season. Oakland County, where Oakland University is located, currently has 209 cases per 100,000 people and has had a steady increase in cases recently.
West Virginia and Pitt
The “Backyard Brawl” between West Virginia University and the University of Pittsburgh has now been canceled as “The Mountaineers are adhering to health and safety protocols within their athletic program.” The meet was originally postponed. Monongalia County, home to WVU, has 223 cases per 100,000 and has experienced a sharp increase recently.
The meet was scheduled for Monday, January 17th. Pitt also has had their meet scheduled on Friday, January 14th against Division III Denison University canceled.
Missouri State and Drury
The dual meet between Division I Missouri State University and Division II Drury University has been canceled “due to COVID-19 issues within Missouri State’s Tier I personnel, which consists of student-athletes, coaches, managers and staff.” Missouri State also announced that they do not intend to reschedule the meet.
The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 15th. This was the second meeting between these two teams as they also met on December, 17th in 2021. At that meet, Drury narrowly took the wins on both the men’s (124-117) and women’s (123-114) side.
Georgia Southern, Campbell, and SCAD
The tri-meet between Division I Georgia Southern University, Division I Campbell University, and NAIA SCAD has been canceled “Due to COVID-19 concerns.” The meet was originally scheduled for Saturday, January 15th at Georgia Southern.
This is the first canceled meet for Georgia Southern and Campbell, and it is the second for SCAD as their meet against Division II Rollins College scheduled for January 8th was canceled.
Notre Dame, Princeton, and Navy
The University of Notre Dame has announced that “Due to COVID-19 protocols and out of an abundance of caution, the Notre Dame Swimming and Diving team will not travel to the meet this weekend against Princeton and Navy.” Princeton has also announced that “Due to University COVID-19 protocols, this weekend’s men’s swimming & diving tri-meet with Navy & Notre Dame has been canceled.” Princeton made the same announcement for the women’s team. The meet was scheduled for Friday, January 14th and Saturday, January 15th at Princeton.
Notre Dame had their tri-meet against Louisville and Miami (FL) canceled back at the beginning of November. This is the first meet canceled for Navy and Princeton so far this season.
Update: Since the time of this original post, Princeton has now announced that they will host Navy at home on Friday, January 21st.
Other Meets Canceled this weekend:
- UNC and NC State
- Texas, Ohio State and Kentucky
- Denison and Pitt
- LSU and Florida State
- University of Illinois Chicago and Southern Illinois
Given that Covid now seems to be much milder in form for vaccinated people, and as testing is widely available, perhaps its time to cut out all these cancellations and protocols and just treat Covid like the flu or any other disease with just a few additional safety protections. If you test positive, don’t attend (with at home positives subject to override by subsequent PCR testing); If your stupid enough not to be vaccinated, either bear the risk or don’t attend, but don’t expect the rest of society to continue these cumbersome protocols to protect you. Mask wearing by folks on deck should continue except when actually swimming – the science shows it greatly reduces the chance of spreading –… Read more »
where is testing widely available? Can I send people to where you are?
It actually is widely available on many college campuses, but that’s certainly not the case for the wider public.
Long COVID is a real issue that can be permanently disabling.
So is cancer, ALS, heart disease, arthritis, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Asthma, CSF and DEPRESSION.
How many of these teams took training trips in December/January? Literally traveling and training together in a different environment, where they are going into restaurants or other establishments that is unfamiliar to them, probably in Florida or Texas where the Covid numbers are spiking higher than where their school is located?
Everyone is going to get omicron. Now, later at some point – everyone- vaxxed, boosted, unvaxxed. I’m hoping this is the beginning of the end of this 2 yr roller coaster. And yes, I did go to medical school and have followed every second of this pandemic closely.
2020 is not a year, but a decade.
Pitty Pitt, they can’t even race D3 schools to get a winning record.
Oh. I thought it was a literal fisticuff that cancelled a meet. Oh well!
Seriously, hope we can get through this soon.