It has been 282 days since an Azusa Pacific sport has competed, as the Cougars have been out of competition since March 11, 2020, due to the ongoing global pandemic. On that day back in March, Cougar softball posted a dramatic 5-4 win over Dominican on a Michaela Fonoti's walk-off RBI single, and the Cougar swim & dive team wrapped up an outstanding first day at the 2020 NCAA DII Swimming & Diving National Championships, where Amy Crayne, Melia Stout, McKenna Webster, and Hannah Frey combined for 22 points. Little did anyone know that it would be the final day of the 2020 spring season, and the beginning of a long, and unknown hiatus from competition.
For Cougar Athletics, the wait is nearly over as the men's and women's basketball teams are set to hit the floor in late January for the first time in the 2020-21 campaign.
Cougar Athletics has been given permission to return to competition for the spring semester. The return-to-play plan will be carried out in phases, with both basketball squads returning to campus in early January, followed by a mid-February review of the current pandemic status in L.A. County which in turn could allow for the return for the rest of the programs, with those seasons set to begin no earlier than March 4.
"I am excited for the return of our student-athletes," said Pine, "I am thankful to the Executive Return to Campus Committee which has worked tirelessly to get us back on campus safely, so that our coaches and student-athletes can resume doing what they love and have greatly missed over the past 10 months. I am grateful to our medical team and APU's Student Health Center which have led us along the way."
The Athletics Department submitted a comprehensive proposal to the Executive Return to Campus Committee early last week, outlining steps and procedures that will be implemented and followed to meet state and county guidelines in order to maintain a safe environment for student-athletes, coaches, officials and game day personnel.
While the official 12-game, 7-week schedule won't be released until early January, PacWest play will begin the weekend of January 22-23 with back-to-back games against a PacWest member from the Southern California pod (Biola, Concordia, or Point Loma). Both the Cougar men and women will have about three weeks to prepare for the season-opener, with practice in the Felix Event Center beginning January 4.
The men's and women's squads are eager to hit the court this year, as both programs this past spring were set to play first round games in their respective NCAA Tournaments on March 13, one day after the NCAA shutdown. The men will open the 2020-21 season with high expectations, as they were ranked No. 7 in the D2SIDA preseason poll, and have moved to No. 6 despite not playing a game. On the women's side, the Cougars are prepared to make another run in the NCAA West region, as Laura Pranger, the school's all-time leader in blocked shots, returns alongside a slew of returners and several key newcomers who will be ready to contribute.
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The Wait Is Nearly Over - Azusa Pacific University
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