Some Transylvania sports moving from fall to spring because of coronavirus

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to take its toll across America this summer, the clock is approaching midnight for overseers of college sports to make decisions about their scheduled events this fall.

In the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, which includes NCAA Division III Transylvania University in Lexington, decision day came Monday. The league announced it would move all sports classified by the NCAA as “high contact risk” from the fall of 2020 to the spring of 2021.

Those sports include football, men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball. Transylvania does not field a football team.

“The HCAC is committed to offering engaging athletic experiences for student athletes in these sports with extensive team activities this fall followed by spring competitive seasons,” the league said in a news release. “In adjusting to the challenges presented by the pandemic, these modifications maintain safety as the highest priority but help ensure the opportunity for as much participation as possible in each HCAC sport.”

The HCAC will move forward with fall seasons in golf, tennis and cross country.

The conference will also schedule some competitions for baseball and softball in the fall that will not count toward league standings next spring.

The HCAC’s presidents said the shift from fall to spring for high contact risk sports came after analysis concluded the league could not successfully fulfill NCAA testing recommendations without drawing vital resources from local communities. They also are pinning hopes on scientific advances with respect to COVID-19 by spring that might allow for high contact risk sports and more efficient testing.

The league said a decision about the timing of basketball season, which is defined as high contact risk, will be made soon. Swimming and diving, considered low contact risk, will move forward. No changes have been made to indoor and outdoor track and field or lacrosse.

In addition to Transylvania, the 10-member HCAC includes Anderson, Bluffton, Defiance, Earlham, Franklin, Hanover, Manchester, Mount St. Joseph and Rose-Hulman.

This story was originally published July 27, 2020 at 10:38 AM.