NEAC Presidents’ Council issues statement on spring sports competition

MORRISVILLE, NY » The North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) Presidents’ Council announced the intent to move forward with a formal return to competition for spring sports in 2021. SUNY Morrisville competes in men’s and women’s lacrosse, as well as softball within the NEAC in the spring.

NEAC Athletic Directors and Presidents’ Council members have been continuously monitoring the state of the ongoing pandemic and reviewing relevant data regarding a safe return to play. As with all decisions at the conference level, the safety and well-being of student-athletes remains the primary goal of the conference, and all plans to return to play remain contingent upon the federal, state and local health guidelines. The status of all contests will be subject to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I am very excited that the NEAC Presidents made this decision today and allowed a path for our student-athletes to return to competition,” Interim Athlet

ics Director Todd Kleinhans said.

“We are currently working within Madison County and New York State guidelines to formalize our full return to competition plan. This will allow for review and hopeful approval by SUNY, so that we can follow the lead of the SUNYAC and allow our student-athletes to compete again. The amount of testing that is currently being done on campus is crucial to us being able to return to sport safely.

I thank all of the students, faculty and staff on campus for their commitment to testing and making adjustments in their social activities necessary for us to provide a safe environment as we plan to move in the direction of playing games.”

In keeping each campus community safe and well, the Presidents’ Council has agreed to not allow spectators as the spring season commences, due to outside visitor restrictions that remain in place on a number of member campuses. They reserve the right to amend the spectator policy if there are changes to current campus restrictions.

The NEAC will announce conference schedules in the upcoming week and will be subject to change with the possibility of pauses due to the pandemic and inclement weather.

Once finalized, schedules for the Mustangs will be made available on the college’s athletics website at www.morrisvillemustangs.com.

A full statement by the NEAC office can be found at www.neacsports.com