Texas suspends all high school events until May 11 due to swine flu scare

by Staff of McKinneyNews.net

On the recommendation of Dr. David Lakey, Commissioner of the TexasDepartment of State Health Services, and in consultation with Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott, the University Interscholastic League is altering its schedule of events due to the outbreak of the swine flu in Texas.

Effective immediately, all UIL interscholastic competition is suspended until May 11.

“The health and safety of our student activity participants is of the utmost importance,” said UIL Executive Director Dr. Charles Breithaupt. “Taking every possible precaution to prevent the further spreading of this disease is an important contribution to the welfare of our great state, and altering the schedule of our events is a way to keep our participants safe.”

As this is a fluid situation, the UIL tentatively releases the following schedule for UIL regional and state events affected by this situation.

Academic State Meet: The UIL Academic State Meet, originally scheduled for May 7-9, will be rescheduled at a later date. The Conference 4A and 5A One-Act Play competition will continue as previously scheduled on May 15-16. All other conferences competing in One-Act Play will be rescheduled. A schedule of the Academic State Meet, including One-Act Play, will be posted on the UIL web site once finalized.

Texas State Wind Ensemble Festival: The Texas State Wind Ensemble Festival, originally scheduled for May 9, has been canceled. The UIL staff will consult with the 16 participating schools to determine whether or not to reschedule the event at a later date.

Regional Track Meets: All UIL regional track meets originally scheduled for this weekend, May 1-2, have been canceled. The state track and field meet will be extended to a three-day format to include semifinal heats. The meet is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, May 14-16. Semifinal qualifiers will be based on the district track meet results. Each region will be represented at the state meet by the top four performances in each event for all conferences. Hand-held times will be converted to fully automatic times as defined by the National Federation of State High School Association rules. A revised track and field state meet schedule will be posted on the UIL web site no later than Friday, May 1. Qualifiers to the UIL state track and field meet will be posted on the UIL web site on Wednesday, May 6.

Golf State Tournament: The UIL golf state tournament will take place at the previously scheduled times beginning May 11.

Tennis State Tournament: The UIL tennis state tournament will take place at the previously scheduled times beginning May 11.

Baseball and Softball: No interschool games will take place until May 11 for either softball or baseball. McKinney High and McKinney North were set to begin the state softball playoffs on Friday, for example, but those playoffs have been pushed back two weeks.