Presidents' Athletic Conference announces plans for spring semester competition

The Presidents’ Athletic Conference on Friday announced tentative plans for seasons affected by the coronavirus pandemic to return to competition during the spring 2021 semester.

“We are planning for winter and spring intercollegiate athletic competition, including resumption of postponed fall sports. Across the conference, our teams have been training and preparing safely with covid-19 measures in place throughout the fall,” said Dr. Calvin Troup, president of Geneva College and chair of the PAC Presidents’ Council, in a statement released in conjunction with the announcement.

The council has been working with the PAC Athletic Administrators Council and sport-specific coaching groups to review and plan for the return to competition.

“With conference covid-19 protocols in place and the benefits of schools in close proximity for travel, we trust that our PAC student-athletes who have invested so much and exercised such patience and perseverance will finally be able return to competition,” Troup said.

PAC members are Bethany (W.Va.), Carnegie Mellon, Case Western Reserve (Ohio), Chatham, Franciscan (W.Va.), Geneva, Grove City, Saint Vincent, Thiel, Washington & Jefferson, Waynesburg and Westminster.

Under the plan, the winter seasons of men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s and women’s swimming and diving are to begin no earlier than Jan. 23.

Schedules and postseason championship competitions and tournaments will be announced at a later date.

The PAC Presidents’ Council also affirmed a recommendation of the PAC Athletic Administrators’ Council to cancel the league’s indoor track and field championships tentatively scheduled for the end of February.

However, the council will afford member schools with men’s and women’s indoor track and field programs the opportunity to seek nonconference competition consistent with local, state and federal public health authorities, the NCAA Sport Science Institute (SSI) and institutional policies and guidelines.

The PAC said plans for men’s wrestling still are being finalized.

The league also hopes to have a format in place for men’s and women’s cross country competition, including championship opportunities, to take place during February and March.

The PAC made announcements in July and August postponing fall sports seasons because of covid-19 risks with the intention of moving them to the spring.

The PAC said it will continue monitoring all situations related to covid-19 and work to determine the best and safest paths forward with the understanding that all plans for competition are subject to change based on local, state and federal guidelines, recommendations and mandates.