With the NIU campus closed after the Feb. 14 shootings, NIU suspended all athletic competitions until Feb. 25.

Twenty-seven contests in men’s and women’s basketball, gymnastics, baseball, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, wrestling, women’s track and field and men’s golf were canceled.

With seasons drawing to a close and scheduling conflicts with other schools, only a few contests were able to be rescheduled.

“I think we were all trying to not only communicate, but understand the circumstances with the tragedy.” MAC Commissioner Rick Chryst said. “I know the basis of my communication with NIU was going to be, ‘What’s the right thing to do for the student athletes?’”

Men’s and women’s basketball each postponed three games over the period. Both teams only rescheduled one of those contests.

“We had an opportunity to play one of the three games,” NIU women’s basketball coach Carol Owens said. “Since we hadn’t played Ohio, that was the obvious choice.”

Chryst said that conference standings were not taken into consideration in deciding which contests were to be made up.

Baseball had its opening series at Texas Tech canceled. However, it was able to schedule games against Portland and Hawaii in Suprise, Ariz., with help from Arizona State baseball coach Pat Murphy.

“When you talk about trying to redo schedules with as late of notice as we had, it’s next to impossible to get a three- or four-game set,” NIU head baseball coach Ed Mathey said.

Gymnastics had two meets against Illinois and Illinois–Chicago canceled, and with the team’s weekends filled, it was hard to meet twice a week. However, NIU agreed to travel to UIC on Feb. 27.

“It’s very tough to change your schedule,” NIU gymnastics coach Mark Sontag said. “It really interferes with your cycle.”

Men’s and women’s tennis, wrestling, softball, men’s golf and women’s track and field were unable to make up any of their contests.

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