The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), following the recent recommendations from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), announced on March 16 that it would cancel the upcoming basketball championships and all spring sports competition.
The decision impacts the Muskegon Community College intercollegiate athletic program. The MCC men’s basketball team, arguably the best in the sport in school history, had won its last 21 games. The squad earned the third seed in the 16-team NJCAA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship tournament originally set to begin this week in Illinois.
Both the MCC baseball and softball teams, who competed down South during Spring Break, will also have their seasons come to a premature end. The men’s golf and the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field teams will not compete this spring.
“I feel terrible for our student athletes but understand this is bigger than just us,” said Marty McDermott, the dean of college services and athletic director at MCC.
“We will work with the NJCAA to ensure that all of our spring student athletes will not be charged with a year of eligibility and will be able to compete for us next year if they choose. Our coaches will continue to diligently recruit student athletes for the 20-21 season and look forward to competing this fall.”
“As an association, the NJCAA exhausted all possible avenues to potentially postpone competition for both upcoming basketball championships and spring sport competition,” stated Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President and CEO. “We believe following the recommendations of the CDC is in the best interest of our member colleges and our student-athletes.”
Along with the cancellation of competition, all on and off-campus recruiting for all sports will be halted until April 15 with further evaluation to be assessed at that point in time.