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OHSAA Officially Cancels 2020 Winter Sports Tournaments


 

 

The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Thursday, March 26, that the winter sports tournaments of wrestling, basketball and ice hockey, which were postponed indefinitely on March 12, have been cancelled due to the Coronavirus COVID- 19 pandemic.

It is anticipated that schools will not be able to reopen for many weeks, which prevents interscholastic athletics from taking place.

The start of the spring sports season is still postponed, which coincides with schools not being open.

“We are just devastated that the tournaments cannot be completed,” said Jerry Snodgrass, OHSAA Executive Director.

“But our priority is the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, communities and officials.

“Even if our schools reopen this spring, it will be difficult to find facilities willing to host the tournaments. Most campuses are shut down until mid- to late-summer.

“We are already planning for ways that these student-athletes will be honored at next year’s state tournament.”

Three AHS wrestlers– Brennan Short, Andrew Francis, and Carson Meyer– qualified for the state wrestling tournament.

The 672 student-athletes who qualified for the state wrestling tournament will all receive a program, certificate and their weigh-in card.

These four winter state tournaments and a few events during World War II (1941- 45) are the only sports cancellations in the history of the OHSAA, which was founded in 1907. Boys basketball and wrestling were not cancelled during those years.

No state champions will be listed for these four sports in 2020.

The OHSAA does not use state polls from the media or coaches associations to determine state champions.

OHSAA coaches can communicate electronically with their student-athletes, but no practices, scrimmages or contests of any kind are permitted until further notice.

More information regarding spring sports will be provided when available.