Cougars’ seasons come to an early close
5 sports affected by edict from AAC; C-USA move puts Rice in same spot
Houston softball coach Kristin Vesely sent out the group text message she hoped to avoid during the past week.
The rest of the season is over.
The American Athletic Conference announced Monday that all athletic competition and championships are canceled for the remainder of the academic year amid concerns over the coronavirus outbreak. The two-sentence statement added that AAC schools have ceased practices.
Conference USA, which includes Rice, also said Monday it was canceling all competition and championships.
“It’s really sad because of how well we were doing,” said Vesely, whose squad had won 11 of its last 14 matches and was receiving votes in the national polls. “I think (Monday’s announcement) was the final blow. That’s definitive and final. There’s no hope in that.”
The cancellation of athletics for the rest of the school year shuts down five UH sports that were in season — softball, baseball, track and field, tennis and golf — along with spring football practice.
In addition, UH, coming off a fourth straight AAC swimming title, was set to send seven qualifiers (Zarena Brown, Peyton Kondis, Laura Laderoute, Mykenzie Leehy, Ioanna Sacha, Samantha Medlin and Elizabeth Richardson) to the NCAA championship meet, which was scheduled to begin Wednesday at Athens, Ga.
Total cancellations for UH sports include:
• A third straight appearance in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament
• Forty regular-season baseball games and the AAC tournament
• Thirty-one softball games and the conference tournament
• A combined eight men’s and women’s golf tournaments and conference championships
• In addition to the cancellation of the NCAA indoor championships, more than a dozen outdoor track and field meets, including nationals in Austin, where the Cougars would have been among the favorites for a podium finish on the men’s side
• Nine tennis matches and the conference tournament.
UH baseball coach Todd Whitting said he understood the AAC’s decision was a precaution for the health and safety of student-athletes. UH announced Sunday that its baseball team is in a precautionary self-quarantine after a member of the travel party on a recent trip to Las Vegas began to exhibit flulike symptoms and was tested for COVID-19.
“I feel for all of our tremendous student-athletes, but understand with the current situation in our country that we need to do whatever is necessary to ensure the safety of everyone,” Whitting said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended Sunday that any gatherings of 50 or more people should be canceled for the next eight weeks.