Summit League President’s Council votes to postpone fall sports

Posted on by

A group of St. Thomas volleyball players discuss their next play. The Summit League, future home of most St. Thomas athletics, has postponed some fall sports, including volleyball. (Maxwell Collier/TommieMedia)

The Summit League announced Monday evening that its President’s Council voted unanimously to postpone soccer, volleyball and cross country’s seasons to spring 2021.

The D-I league will be the future home of most St. Thomas athletics starting in fall 2021.

“The health, safety and welfare of the league’s student-athletes, coaches and staff were at the forefront of this decision,” the league said in a statement.

This decision does not currently affect winter and spring sports, the league said, and league officials have begun modeling potential schedules for the spring season.

“This was yet another tough decision that I never thought this group would have to make,” Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple said in the statement. “Our staff and membership have worked extremely hard over the past few months to try and create a safe environment for our student-athletes to have meaningful competition this fall.”

The St. Thomas athletics department did not comment about the Summit League’s move.

Several D-I leagues have announced postponing at least some of their fall sports, including the Pioneer Football League, the future home of St. Thomas football. The Mid-American Conference became the first Football Bowl Subdivision league in the NCAA to postpone all fall sports Saturday, followed by the Mountain West on Monday announcing “the indefinite postponement of all scheduled fall sports contests.” The Big Ten Conference, the home of University of Minnesota athletics, announced their postponement of fall sports Tuesday.

NCAA regulations and local guidelines will determine whether teams will be allowed to practice and train during the fall, the Summit League statement said.

In D-III, the MIAC announced its decision to postpone cross country, football, soccer and volleyball’s seasons to spring 2021.

Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.