Two members of the North Atlantic Conference (NAC) announced on Monday that they will be moving forward with an alternative way to salvage a fall athletic season in 2020.
Thomas College of Waterville and the University of Maine-Presque Isle will be playing their traditional fall sports a different way. Under guidelines that include testing student athletes regularly, the two colleges will continue to look for competition with other colleges and universities that are under the same guidelines to try to ensure player safety. The season may just consist of practices and intraquad scrimmages if no opponents are found and deemed safe to compete against. Any team competition will be non-conference play as the NAC announced Monday as well that they have cancelled their 2020 fall athletic season for all 11 of their league members, as there will be no playoffs or championships to play for this year in any sport at the Division III level. UMPI also expects to also play non-traditional sports like baseball and softball, as both schools look to give their student athletes the best experience they can this upcoming fall. Winter sports are still being discussed at the conference and NCAA levels and will be announced at a later date.. Below is a press release with all the info from both UMPI and Thomas College-
UMPI:
http://owls.umpi.edu/general/2019-20/releases/20200720hnmnbd
Thomas:
