It’s official. Coronavirus pandemic forces CIF to cancel rest of spring sports season
The rest of the state’s high school spring sports seasons have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, the California Interscholastic Federation announced Friday.
The official announcement by the CIF follows recommendations from Gov. Gavin Newsom and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond to keep school buildings closed to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
“We understand this is disappointing for everyone involved in education-based athletics and empathize with our student-athletes and all who are impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. As always, our top priority is everyone’s ongoing health and safety during this challenging time, and we all look forward to the day when education-based athletics resumes,” CIF Executive Director Ron Nocetti said in a statement.
Fresno and Central school districts already announced this week that they’ll keep their campuses closed for the remainder of the school year.
In March, the CIF told its members through a conference call that the basketball state championship games were canceled because of the outbreak.
The CIF had not ruled on its spring sports before continuing those talks with the state’s 10 section commissioners on Friday when they agreed to cancel the rest of the spring season, including state championship meets in swimming and track and field at Clovis West and Buchanan, respectively.
This story was originally published April 3, 2020 at 2:24 PM.
