The Centennial Conference, which includes colleges such as Dickinson, Juniata, Franklin & Marshall and Moravian, announced that they are suspending all fall sports in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic. In its announcement, the league said there would be no football but left out the possibility for other sports such as cross country to be re-evaluated in September.

The text of their announcement is below:

LANCASTER, Pa. — The following is a statement regarding athletic activity for the fall 2020 semester. 

Assignor Larry Moser reminds all members of the chapter to update their information and available dates for the upcoming 2020 Cross-country season. While we might not know how the season will operate in the wake of COVID-19, Larry is proceeding as though the conference schools will be holding all their meets this fall.

One difference is that there is an uptick in meets that will involve three or more schools. Regardless of the type of meet, assignments will be made as soon as all the information in loaded into ZebraWeb. In the meantime – make sure your information is updated and any dates when you can’t take a meet are blocked out.

Due to the corona virus outbreak and Governor Wolf’s closure of schools, we will not have our normal meeting place at Carlisle High School available to us for at least the next two scheduled meetings.

As more information becomes available in this constantly changing situation, we will email members and post updates about when and where meetings will resume and any other changes that PIAA might institute concerning our meeting obligations.

If any coach or official would like to review the Powerpoint presentation made at the annual Rules Interpretation Meeting, just click in this link to download. For anyone without Powerpoint software, the presentation can also be viewed as a .pdf file by downloading this file.

PIAA has added links to a number of documents, diagrams for new 30 meter exchange zones and other information from PIAA and the NFHS about changes in the rules for Track and Field on its website. The information can be seen and/or downloaded at http://www.piaa.org/sports/track/default.aspx.

Following a requirement from the Mid-Penn Conference that all PIAA officials working in any sport to obtain personal liability insurance coverage, the Eavenson Chapter now has a $1 million dollar policy contract for each of its members.

The new insurance requirement from the conference came on the heels of PIAA dropping blanket liability coverage for all officials as of the beginning of the 2019-20 school term.

After surveying several options, including having all members join the National Federation of High Schools with its included insurance policy, chapter officials opted to purchase a policy from a separate insurer that deals with multiple sports and leagues throughout the country. The coverage also includes hospitalization in case of accidents in addition to the required liability limits the Mid-Penn demanded. The costs were very reasonable, with minimum limits, and amounted to approximately $13 per member. The policy covers both the track and cross country seasons for the calendar year 2020.

The Fall, 2019 PIAA Officials Bulletin can be read on the PIAA website by clicking here.

The National Federation has posted a summary of changes to the 2010 Rule Book. They can be reviewed here.

As the 2018-19 school year started, our officials chapter was greeted with the news that PIAA had officially approved changing our name to the “David B. Eavenson” Chapter of PIAA Track and Field Officials.

That switch was made to honor the legacy of Dave Eavenson, chapter Treasurer and retired AD of Carlisle School District, who passed away recently, as well as his namesake father, the Director of Athletics at Dickinson College for many years and a founder of the chapter in the 1970s.

Although nothing else will change about the chapter’s focus in central Pennsylvania, we will begin trying to change our website and other communications to reflect our new and – now – official title.

The PIAA recently sent out an updated set of guidelines for all officials who work cross-country meets. The information can be found on the PIAA website to download and study by going here.