The NCAA Division II Swimming & Diving Championships began on Wednesday morning at the Spire Institute, outside of Cleveland, Ohio, with full stands in the 1,000-seat facility. But, after a mid-day announcement that attendance for the upcoming NCAA Championship events, including swimming & diving, would be limited to only necessary staff, participants, and “limited family,” that will all change on Thursday.
While there is still uncertainty about what “limited family” means and who else will be allowed in the building, for now, teams at the Division II swimming & diving championship have been told that no spectators will be allowed in the building for the remainder of the meet, including families. This is different than an announcement made during Wednesday’s finals session that mirrored the statement of NCAA president Mark Emmert in saying “limited family” would be allowed.
Specifically, only teams, officials, and timers will be allowed in the building, with the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission saying that the meet has been ‘closed to the public.’ The news that no spectators of any kind will be allowed has been confirmed to SwimSwam by multiple sources from Division II swimming & diving programs.
At the end of day 1 of the meet, the 5-time defending champion Queens women lead Drury by 4 points in the team standings and UC San Diego by 10 points in what is shaping into a 3-team race.
On the men’s side, a DQ by the 200 free relay of 5-time defending team champions Queens has left McKendree, the top-seeded team entering the meet, ahead by 22 points.
The state of Ohio has 4 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 0 deaths reported as of reporting. That includes its first community-spread case announced on Wednesday. Several local youth club championships scheduled in the state of Ohio for this weekend, including the state’s Junior Olympic meet, have also been cancelled.
Just verified, only coaches and swimmer at D2 NC’s!
Soooooo, do we get three days back of the spectator fee back!!!!!!?????
Why is this being so overblown. 🙁
Because this virus has already killed over 4,500 people! That’s in addition to the ~150,000 that die worldwide each day.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate#Mortality_statistics
Conservatively, using only 90 days since the virus first hit China in early December, that’s 4,600 out of the 13,500,000 people who have died worldwide.
On the “positive” side, 360,000 are born every day, 32,400,000 over the last 90 days.
94,528 people have died from the flu this year. I understand the area of unknown that this virus brings, but people are out here freaking out like we’re in the middle of an apocalypse.
Because its saving lives. COVID-19 is incredibly infectious and dangerous to the at-risk population. You might not be in any danger but you are a danger to others if you carry. Its been proven that social isolation is beneficial in these cases. By restricting events we will likely save tens of thousands of lives. COVID-19 hopefully wont end up causing much domestic harm BECAUSE of these efforts. We’re not doing this because the virus has killed a ton, we’re doing it so it won’t kill a ton.
Question: If no spectators will be held, is it being live streamed anywhere? (for DI, DII, or DIII)
This must suck for everyone who came out to watch DII in person and only got to watch one day of swimming.
Yes all the meets are live-streamed
Yes we as parents are very disappointed to be here from around the country to watch them compete only to be told we cant be in the venue. However, as of Thursday they still get to compete. That is the most important thing. We will be able to watch via live stream and get to see them after they finish each session. However they also mentioned they may not have an entire meet so none of us knows exactly what that means. However for today they will swim!!!! GO Tampa Spartans!!!
Who is they?
That’s not the announcement they made. Nor have the teams been told this. Please provide your source.
It’s been verified as stated in the article.
Thank you for the updates. You and Braden are providing important information first.
There’s no way D1 is held.
Let’s stop speculating. We get the news when we gets the news. Athletes need the mentality that it is happening; I can’t imagine the stress coaches and swimmers are feeling right now. It is scary and a shame.
Not speculation. If they are pulling the plug on a professional sport theres no way amateur athletes are going to come from all parts of the country to compete. This goes for hoops, wrestling and whatever. NHL be next to call it.
I was walking through the Mpls airport and they have signs everywhere welcoming everybody to the wrestling championships and I just kept thinking, what a waste.
I’ve flown into and out of Minneapolis countless times and nothing hit closer to home about what’s happening than visualizing that sight .. you are absolutely right. What an absolute shame.. I understand everyone has an opinion and a right to that, but it’s truly just sad what’s happening.