WESTFIELD – The Westfield State University spring sports season has been suspended, the school’s associate athletics director Dave Caspole announced late Wednesday night.
“This is obviously a disappointing development for all of Westfield State athletics, as our highly successful student-athletes and teams strive to compete,” Caspole stated in a prepared statement made available to the media Wednesday. “However, we need to keep the health and safety of all of our student-athletes in the forefront at this time in light of the current COVID-19 virus. All these moves have been made with an eye on both student and community safety, and efforts to keep open the opportunity for our student-athletes to continue to compete.”
Beginning Sun., March 15, all Westfield State University varsity athletics competitions and practices will be suspended, in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference and the Owls’ sister institutions.
It is possible the suspension could be lifted Mon., March 30, according to Caspole.
“While we hope that practice and competition will be able to resume at the point that students are allowed to return to campus, that decision will be made in conjunction with the guidelines that the Governor’s office, the University, the Council of Presidents, MASCAC and NCAA have in place at that time,” Caspole stated.
Westfield State plans to complete its spring break competitions (baseball, softball and women’s lacrosse) currently ongoing in Florida as well as the NCAA Championships in North Carolina.
Also Wednesday, the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which includes Amherst College, announced It was canceling the entire 2020 spring season.
The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference canceled the remainder of its high school winter sports tournaments and championships earlier this week.
