NCAA cancels D-III winter championships

Wednesday, the NCAA canceled Division III winter championships for the 2020-21 season.

The D-III Administrative Committee approved the recommendation from the Championships Committee due to low participation numbers among schools.

The decision affects men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s indoor track and field, men’s and women’s ice hockey and wrestling.

"Today, we made the difficult decision to cancel our Division III winter championships. While some institutions have been able to safely return to sport, the recent declaration form data show that more than half of our division has not returned to winter sport practice and competition to be in a position for NCAA national championship participation," said Fayneese Miller, chair of the Presidents Council and president at Hamline. "This was a very difficult decision to make, and we are saddened to do so. However, none of our winter sports meet the Championships Committee’s established thresholds of participation to hold a championship. We are committed to ensuring that our student-athletes have the best possible experience, and, for us, this means having a meaningful number of competitions. We hope this is possible for our spring championship."