CWU’s men and women’s basketball had their regular season games for Jan. 8 against Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) and Alaska Fairbanks University (AFU) canceled due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. 

According to CWU athletics, the men’s game was canceled due to health and safety protocols within the NNU program, while the women’s game was canceled due to protocols within the CWU program. 

Director of Athletics Dennis Francois gave a statement to The Observer regarding the news of the canceled games.

“It is unfortunate to have to postpone these games as rescheduling becomes increasingly challenging,” Francois said. “But the health and safety of our student-athletes and staff is priority number one.”

The Observer could not confirm if the cancellation of these games were due to a positive  COVID-19 test within the respective programs or due to contact tracing protocols. 

After going all of fall quarter without having to cancel a single game due to COVID-19, CWU Athletics has also announced that Monday’s Jan. 10 game against Alaska Anchorage University has also been canceled. The Jan. 10 game was originally scheduled for Thursday, Jan.6, before being moved to Monday. No make-up dates for the three games that were cancelled over the weekend have been announced at time of publication. 

CWU’s men’s team (8-2) is scheduled next to hit the road to take on Alaska Anchorage University (7-3) on Thursday Jan. 13. If CWU women’s team (8-4) clear protocols in time, they will travel to take on rival Western Washington University (10-0) on Jan.13.