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In the first of what may be more than a few dominos to fall, Section 3 has shut the door on an Indoor Track Season for the 2021 Season. The move is not unsurprising, after SUNYAC canceled their Indoor Season late last month. The SUNYAC League hosts, almost exclusively, all Collegiate Indoor Track and Field Facilities in New York State, meaning facility usage would be almost unobtainable after their late-October decision. In Section 3, facilities such as OCC, Utica, and Nazareth all see closures well into next year.
The move pre-empts a decision at the State Level on Winter Sports, one that has been scheduled to decided by Governor Andrew Cuomo sometime before the end of November. Given the current election cycle, in addition to daily needs of the COVID Response, the decision is not expected soon. Once that guidance is available, NYSPHSAA will examine what is released, provide their own guidance, and then if approved, as with Cross Country, it will fall to the decisions of individual Sections, as well as individual school districts to decide how to proceed.
Many other Sections will be put in similar situations. Section 7 is wholly dependent on SUNY Plattsburgh, while Section 2 uses SUNY Albany. There may be options for usage at the local level, as Section 6 has outline a gameplan with Houghton College to hold mini-meets, but again, it is all dependent on the overall guidance from the State.
Read the full briefing from Section 3 Executive Director John Rathbun below.