The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Board of Directors has announced the cancellation of Fall Championships and have suspended all sports competition through December 31st. Upper Iowa is a member of the Conference. The NSIC had announced in late July it was pushing back the start of the football season to late September, and last week, the NCAA announced it was cancelling all Division II Fall Championships, including the football playoffs.

In a statement Thursday, Rick Hartzell, Vice President for Athletics, Upper Iowa University said:

“Today, we are sad, but hopeful. It pains us that our fall sport student-athletes won’t compete for a Northern Sun Conference Championship or earn a place on an All-Conference team this year. But we are hopeful that our fall sport coaches and student-athletes will use this year to sharpen both their academic and athletic skills. We understand that there are more questions than answers at this time, and it is not fair to those young women and men that have put in the hard work to be ready. All 24 of our sports have been affected by this pandemic over the last five months. It is imperative that our Peacocks come together and lift each other up to find the silver lining in a seemingly continuous storm cloud. We will work together with our University, our community, and our conference to get the answers and move toward a brighter tomorrow for Upper Iowa and Peacock athletics.”

The NSIC is a 16-team, 18-sport, NCAA Division II conference with institutions located in Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.