The CIF Southern Section has announced that it has canceled the fall high school sports championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The announcement came after a meeting on Jan. 19 and will affect sports such as girls volleyball, cross country and football. 

“The cancelling of the CIF championships in the fall will allow schools to schedule more regular season games, if their county allows for it,” Athletic director Tim Chevalier wrote to the Talon. 

In a statement released by Rob Wigod, the Commissioner of Athletes for the CIF Southern Section, it was expressed that not enough progress has been made in the decline of COVID-19 numbers, making it unsafe to hold a section championship. 

“There has not been enough progress made from the purple tier toward the orange tier for Football, Girls Volleyball, and Boys/Girls Water Polo to even begin competition this season. Subsequently, there will not be sufficient time for those sports to conduct viable league play, which is necessary for us to be able to conduct Section Championships in those sports,” Wigod wrote. 

Wigod expressed that due to an ongoing rise in case numbers there would not be enough time to start league matches. 

“As for Boys/Girls Cross-Country, which is currently in the purple tier and can begin competing next week, provided the stay at home order is lifted in Southern California, the ability for us to host a Southern Section Championship in one location and have student-athletes from all 7 counties within the Southern Section footprint be allowed to travel to that single location is not realistic,” Wigod wrote. 

Senior and varsity girl’s volleyball player Emilee Teichner is not surprised by the news and just looks forward to having a season. 

“It’s a bummer, but I was not surprised by the decision,” Teichner wrote to the Talon. “Honestly, I think we would just be happy to play at all. The majority of us have not touched a volleyball in months.”