The Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association continues to navigate the waters in hopes of preserving a spring high school sports season.
Monday’s conference call with the organization’s Tournament Management Committee focused on some of the individual sports for the spring season, as well as more discussion about cutoff dates for a potential postseason.
The only firm order from the TMC, and something that has been consistent throughout this process, is that the MIAA will “follow the expectations and orders put forth by Governor Baker in relation to COVID-19,” according to a press release issued Monday.
While there was discussion at times during Monday’s conference call about further extending the deadline in order to have a postseason, the TMC ultimately tabled the matter for a few weeks, noting that Governor Baker’s office would likely have an update on school openings by then. For now, the schedule is still moving forward with the tentative May 4 opening day as planned.
“Due to the daily adaptations to state issued guidelines and recommendations the TMC did not choose to establish a date at which spring tournaments would not be conducted,” the release stated. “This topic will be reviewed at the next TMC meeting. The next TMC virtual meeting is scheduled for April 16.”
There was an acknowledgement that a regular season schedule would necessitate a minimum of four weeks (after seven days of practice). Anything short of that would put a postseason tournament in jeopardy.
After brief discussion about girls golf, the TMC focused some of its attention on track and field during Monday’s meeting. The group voted unanimously to set that sport’s cutoff date for the end of the regular season at June 21, and sectional meets are tentatively set for June 27 and 28. The pentathlon will be held on June 25.
Representatives from the sport of tennis acknowledged that the tennis community was in support of canceling the individual tournament scheduled for May. The team portion of the season is still expected to be played with the other sports on the high school slate, with a team sectional tournament to follow.