CIAC Makes Adjustments for Weather

The CIAC has made a determination on rescheduling the three remaining divisional cross country championships which were postponed last week, as well as the open meet which was scheduled to take place this coming Friday. An adjustment has also been made to the last date to count in other fall sports with the hope of allowing schools to complete as much of their regular seasons as possible prior to the state tournaments.

The Class S girls, Class SS boys and Class SS girls championship cross country meets were originally scheduled at Wickham Park but that facility is not available for the remainder of the season due to damage suffered during Saturday's storm. Taking into account that issue and the fact that a number of participating schools are currently not in session, both the class meets and the open will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at Hammonasset State Park in Madison. The competition will begin at noon with the S girls, followed by the SS boys at 12:35 and the SS girls at 1:05. The boys open race will run at 1:45 and the girls open at 2:30.

The times from the three class meets will be merged with those from the open to determine the final open results. In this way, Connecticut's athletes will still be able to compete in the New England championships which are being held on Saturday, Nov. 12, at Ponaganset High School in North Scituate, R.I.

Questions regarding the cross country meets should be directed to either meet director Bill Baron (860-644-1264) or committee chair Donn Friedman (860-416-1884).

In the sports of boys and girls soccer, girls volleyball and field hockey, the CIAC will be extending the last date to count games for tournament qualification from Thursday to Saturday, Nov. 5. Seeding meetings for those sports will be held on Sunday morning (Nov. 6). Tournament play will begin on the regularly scheduled dates, with the exception of soccer playdowns, which, if they are necessary, will be held on Monday instead of Saturday.

"The CIAC is sensitive to the uniqueness of this situation and the issues being faced by our member schools," commented CIAC Associate Executive Director Paul Hoey. "In the case of cross country and in soccer, volleyball and field hockey, we believe we have done everything possible to allow schools to complete their regular seasons while still holding fair and competitive tournaments. We would hope that member schools whose facilities are available will help others whose facilities may not be so that as many games as possible can be completed by Saturday."