Maine Principal’s Association Cancels State X-C Meets

On Monday, November 9th the Maine Principal's Association canceled the State Cross Country Meets that were scheduled to be held at Saxl Park in Bangor on Wednesday, November 11th and Saturday November 14th.

In a release, Mike Bisson, the Assistant Executive Director of the Maine Principal's Association said

It is with regret that the Maine Principals’ Association announces the cancellation of the 2020 State Cross Country Championships.  Please know that this was not a decision that was taken lightly, but one that the leadership at the MPA felt necessary to take based on a couple of major of concerns.

1. The concern of bringing students together from all parts of Maine through state-wide travel as we are experiencing a significant increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in Maine.
2. The new mask mandate for student-athletes to wear masks throughout the competition. Many cross country runners have not been acclimatized to wearing the mask while competing in a high stakes race since the mandate took place last Friday. This is a concern for the health and safety of the student-athletes.

We received a great deal of feedback from school administrators and coaches regarding this meet and all concerns were heard. We also know that there will be a great deal of disappointment from those scheduled to compete in this race.