As 2021 begins, there are some things to look forward to – one of them being Gannon University sports.

The fall semester was one without sports for all the Gannon teams, except for a few men’s and women’s golf invitationals.

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) canceled all fall and winter competition in mid-November, leaving it up to the member institutions to decide whether they would take part in any events during this school year.

The PSAC did allow a vote, and if any sport got six votes from the member institutions to play, they would allow a PSAC season to move forward with that sport.

The only sports that got enough votes to compete were cross country and swimming. The anticipated PSAC championship dates for these sports will be on weekends between late March and late April.

As of now, the spring season will go on as planned for PSAC schools and their respective sports. This means all the normal spring sports will take part in competition, including conference play and PSAC championships.

As for the fall and winter sports, Gannon is in the process of working out schedules for all teams in some capacity. This means every Gannon team will take part in some form of competition, though the fall and winter teams will not play in any PSAC championships.

These schedules are not yet finalized, but Gannon hopes to have them finished and made public soon. It is unclear how many games fall and winter sports teams will participate in.

As of now, the only events that are scheduled on the Gannon Athletics website are men’s water polo matches, starting Feb. 6 at the Mount Saint Mary’s Tournament.

Even though these student-athletes will compete, current NCAA legislation allows all fall and winter student-athletes to regain their season of competition in 2020-21.

So, Gannon students participating in those sports will not lose a season of eligibility regardless of how many events and games they compete in.

The NCAA still plans to conduct national championship tournaments for winter and spring championships.

Gannon’s spring semester begins on Jan. 25.

ALEX PEPKE

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