Penn, Ivy League cancel entire spring sports season due to coronavirus
Penn Relays officials said the event is still on despite some big changes.
The Ivy League on Wednesday canceled all athletic events through the remainder of the spring season because of the COVID-19 virus, according to a statement from league officials.
The eight members of the Ivy League council of presidents came to a unanimous decision, the statement said. "Given this situation, it is not feasible for practice and competition to continue.”
Each school, including the University of Pennsylvania, will decide separately whether its winter athletes will participate in the postseason. Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have moved classes online and ordered students to leave campus.
The men’s and women’s basketball championship tournaments, scheduled for this weekend at Harvard, were canceled, the league announced Tuesday. with men’s regular-season champion Yale and women’s champion Princeton advancing to the NCAA Tournament.
As for the upcoming Penn Relays, which are set for April 23-25, event director Dave Johnson said the schedule has not changed. But athletes from Jamaica will not attend for the first time in 56 years.
“I am sorry to hear the Jamaican schools will not be participating in the Penn Relays for the first time since they began coming in 1964," Johnson said in a statement. "We recognize the position of the Jamaican Ministry and sympathize fully with the plight of the many people affected.
"At this point, the Relays staff and volunteers are in full operational mode, as we fully hope to conduct the meet six weeks from now. We recognize the coronavirus and the varied responses to it represent a very fluid situation, and we are monitoring all aspects of this as much as possible. In the meantime, we will continue to post updates to PennRelays.com