ENMU's 2020-21 sports schedule shrinks

PORTALES — Eastern New Mexico University’s 2020-21 sports schedule got a lot smaller on Monday.

The school announced that it would be unable to meet guidelines for intercollegiate sports set by the state, and as a result the school will not compete in fall sports scheduled by the Lone Star Conference for the spring — football, volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer. The decision also affects indoor track, whose season runs from January to March.

Earlier this fall, the school canceled its basketball seasons for similar reasons. ENMU left open the possibility of being able to compete in spring sports, including baseball, softball and outdoor track.

“This has been an extremely difficult period of time for our athletic department, and we truly feel for our programs,” ENMU director of athletics Matt Billings said in a release. “The state of New Mexico has made it clear that intercollegiate athletics competitions are not to occur unless all requirements listed by the COVID-Safe Practices for Intercollegiate Sports document are met, and we simply are unable to meet those requirements.

“We also cannot guarantee that our fall sports student-athletes will be able to prepare in a manner that will ensure they are able to safely compete … with the current practice-size limitations issued, based upon our county’s positivity rate.”

ENMU said it will “weigh the possibility of fall sports competing in outside competition at some point during the spring if state guidelines allow for it.”

All athletic programs have been limited to socially-distanced pods of five. The school said the athletic department plans to continue testing athletes and staff throughout the spring semester.

“We will continue to practice and prepare during the early portions of the spring semester with the possibility of scheduling some sort of outside competition later in the semester, if state guidelines allow for it,” Billings said in the release. “We will not at any point go against the state’s health orders, but we will practice to the best of our ability in a manner in which our student-athletes will be prepared for outside competition, if that time comes.”

A decision on whether the spring sports will be able to compete will be made later as more information is available.

The school said it will honor athletic scholarships for the remainder of the school year.