All Concordia Sports Halted Due to Coronavirus

Grace Barry blocks Midland player. Photo by Lyric Allen.

By Elisha Meyer

In accordance with the Great Plains Athletic Conference, all Concordia teams have ceased activity until April 5 effective immediately. This includes organized practices and competitions for all athletic teams, not just those cur­rently playing their respective seasons.

The National Association of In­tercollegiate Athletics has not made a definite decision on spring ath­letics for the remainder of the 2020 season. The NAIA canceled the re­maining winter national champi­onships as well as its annual na­tional convention on Thursday.

Concordia’s women’s basketball team will not have the chance to de­fend its 2019 national champion­ship as a result of the cancellation. Senior Grace Barry is one of six se­niors who unknowingly played their final game on Wednesday, finish­ing with a 137-10 overall record in four years. Barry took to her Twitter and Instagram accounts to express both disappointment and gratitude.

“I would do anything to finish out the national tounament and play just one more game with my team­mates, my family,” Barry said. “How­ever, if we prevent just 1 person from dying, if by cancelling the wom­en’s basketball national tournament we prevent one person from losing their sister, daughter, mother, fa­ther or son that is a success in itself.”