As the university continues to transition to online classes and remote learning, the university’s sports teams have had to make many changes as well.

As of March 14, the Southland Conference “cancelled all Spring sports competitions and championship events,” according to a release by the conference on lionsports.net. 

Following the immediate suspension of all athletic competitions for the spring semester, the Southland Conference will be meeting to re-evaluate the situation on March 30.

Jay Artigues, director of athletics, shared some details about the decision to suspend all competitions until further notice.

“As of today all athletic activities practices, weights and conditioning have been shut down until March 30,” shared Artigues. “We will revisit on the 30th. This is a Southland Conference mandate.” 

For student-athletes, there will still be some facilities that remain open to them. 

“The only athletic facilities that are open at this time are the Sharp Academic Center and the athletic training room,” commented Artigues.

For everything related to the COVID-19 response, the situation remains very fluid and is liable to change. Artigues mentioned that the Conference is continuing to assess the situation on a weekly basis.

“We are continuing to monitor and update as needed,” said Artigues. “The Southland Conference Athletic Directors will be having weekly conference calls and updates will be made as needed.”

In a recent release on lionsports.net,  Artigues laid out the biggest concern for the athletics department.

“The health and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans is our number one concern and priority,” said Artigues.