WPIAL will start winter sports on time

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, November 4, 2020 | 6:53 PM

With the first practices only weeks away, the WPIAL won’t make any changes to the winter sports schedule after receiving mixed feedback from schools.

The WPIAL last month sent a questionnaire to schools to gauge readiness for basketball, wrestling and other practices to start next month. The answers were “all over the place,” WPIAL executive director Amy Scheuneman said, so the WPIAL will let each school make its own decisions.

The WPIAL board met in executive session Wednesday.

“There was a large discussion about other options,” Scheuneman said. “(The board) agreed to leave it as is and let the schools decide because certain schools are in different situations than others. Some are in an uptick (in covid-19 cases) and others are just fine.”

The first winter practices are Nov. 20 with first competitions Dec. 11.

If a school wants to start practice later or reduce its number of regular-season games, those are options school administrators can take unilaterally.

The PIAA board last month also recommended starting on time.

“When the PIAA meets again, if something changes, something will change on our end,” Scheuneman said.

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.