University of Wisconsin-Superior Yellowjacket Athletics announced Monday, March 16 the cancellation of the remaining 2019-20 athletic season, in cooperation with the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and its members.

The UMAC Council of Presidents voted unanimously Monday to cancel the remainder of the spring season in an effort to prevent further spreading of the COVID-19 virus.

For UWS, spring sports affected include baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, and men’s and women’s golf.

In addition, the Yellowjacket men’s golf team, which won the UMAC title last fall, will not be competing in the 2020 NCAA Championships, which have been canceled.

Non-traditional sports seasons are also canceled.

The UMAC’s decision is in line with conferences and institutions across the nation, which have canceled spring sports seasons in the past week in light of the virus’ spread. Last week UWS canceled all of its spring break trips following an announcement from the NCAA that all winter and spring championships were canceled.

Also last week, UWS announced it was extending spring break by one week, until March 29. Beginning March 30, all on-campus classes begin in an alternate format. Classes already online are not affected by the extended spring break and will continue as scheduled.

The earliest UWS would resume face-to-face classes would be April 13.

NOTE: Other members of the UMAC include the College of St. Scholastica, Northland College (Ashland), Bethany Lutheran, Minnesota Morris, Crown College, Martin Luther, North Central and University of Northwestern.

WIAA update

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ executive order issued Friday, March 13, closes all public and private schools in Wisconsin and suspends all school spring sports activities until Monday, April 6, 2020.

The executive order is in response to the information available regarding COVID-19 and to prevent, suppress and control the disease.

The WIAA has updated its athletic participation limitations to adhere to the executive order as stated on the WIAA’s Infectious Disease option on the Health webpage.

Consistent with Gov. Evers’ announcement, all school training, practices, scrimmages and contests are suspended. In addition, schools and coaches may not bring students together or be involved with students during this time period for any extracurricular or athletic purposes, which includes practices and other instructional/organizational purposes.

NOTE: Track and field is the only sport that was already underway when the suspension took place. The track season began March 2, and the softball season was slated to start on March 16. Other start dates are March 23, for baseball and girls soccer; March 30, for boys tennis; and April 6, for boys golf.