Due to the low number of participation among member schools, the NCAA Division III winter championships are canceled for the academic year 2020-21.
The Division III Administrative Committee, acting on behalf of the Division III Board of Directors and Presidents, approved the recommendation of the Division III Championship Committee to cancel all winter championships. The committee has been monitoring and closely discussing members’ participation in winter sports for several months, and has provided updates to the councils.
The Championship Committee’s decision was based on the results of a winter declaration form distributed to members about their intention to compete this season in a capacity that would allow them to meet the minimum competition requirements to be eligible for the selection of the championship on the dates of selection established. The declaration form was sent to Division III athletic directors on January 19 and completed by 98% of the members.
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The national championships affected are men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s athletics, men’s and women’s ice hockey and wrestling.
During the review of the declaration data, the Championship Committee determined that the participation numbers in all nine winter sports are well below the limit established to provide an experience in national championships. These established limits are 60% for men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving and men’s and women’s athletics and 70% for men’s and women’s ice hockey and wrestling.
| 60% limit | 70% limit | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBB | WBB | MSW | WSW | MTI | WTI | MIH | WIH | WRE | |
| Sponsorship | 416 | 430 | 238 | 265 | 291 | 297 | 84 | 67 | 109 |
| Yes | 48.6% | 46.2% | 43.1% | 42.0% | 48.8% | 49.3% | 52.3% | 51.4% | 61.8% |
| No | 51.4% | 53.8% | 56.9% | 58.0% | 51.2% | 50.7% | 47.7% | 48.6% | 38.2% |
“Today, we made the difficult decision to cancel our Division III winter championships. Although some institutions have managed to return safely to sport, recent data from the declaration form shows that more than half of our division has not returned to winter sports practice and competition to be in a position to participate in the NCAA national championship, ”he said. Fayneese Miller, President of the Council of Presidents and President at Hamline. “It was a very difficult decision to make and we are sad about that. However, none of our winter sports meets the participation limits established by the Championships Committee for holding a championship. We are committed to ensuring that our student-athletes have the best experience possible and, for us, this means having a significant number of competitions. We hope this is possible for our spring championship. “