Union College Makes Tough Decisions About Winter Sports

As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to climb as part of a potential second wave many colleges have been forced to make tough decisions, Union College is now one of them. Union College has decided to not participate in intercollegiate competition during the 2020-21 winter season for basketball, indoor track & field and swimming & diving.

The news doesn't come as a huge surprise but definitely a large disappointment. Union released the news on the college's website:

"As we have seen the number of COVID-19 cases rise both in the region and across the country, this was a very unfortunate and difficult decision that we had to make," said Director of Athletics Jim McLaughlin '93. "The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, staff and entire community continue to remain our top priority as we look to maintain the positive steps our campus community has taken so far this year."

Union went on to say that the student-athletes have been able to train with their coaches under strict safety guidelines and will be able to continue doing so. Obviously, that's not nearly the same as competing against other schools with a chance to win championships but at least the routines will be maintained and the hopes of future competition remain.

The next obvious question is, what about hockey? Union college's hockey program is one of the best and is only six years removed from winning the NCAA National Championship. Per the Union Athletics website, no decision has been made yet.

No decision has yet been made regarding Union's ice hockey programs, with Union continuing to work closely with its ECAC Hockey peers to arrive at a decision regarding league play. The ECAC hopes to have more clarity on the 2020-21 men's and women's ice hockey seasons by mid-November.