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EAST LANSING — It is official. There will be no more high school sports in the state of Michigan.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced Friday afternoon that the remainder of the winter sports season, as well as the entire spring sports season, has been canceled due to the “state of disaster” directive issued by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday.

“We are heartbroken to not be able to provide these opportunities for Michigan’s student-athletes, and especially seniors. We continue to hear from dozens asking us to hold out hope. But safety always must come first, and Gov. Whitmer is making courageous decisions to safeguard the people of our state,” said MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl. “We understand as much as anyone how much school sports mean to athletes and their communities. We had ideas and hopes for finishing winter and spring and helping bring some sort of normalcy after this long break, but this is the correct decision, and we will play our part in bringing schools and communities together again when the time is right.

“For now, we cannot state strongly enough that all students, staffs and others follow the guidelines established to slow the spread of this virus — we all must do our part.”

The cancellation of high school sports is not unprecedented. The MHSAA did not hold state finals in multiple sports in 1942-43 during World War II.

The MHSAA’s Representative Council approved during its winter meeting on March 27 a series of concepts for completing the winter tournaments and an abbreviated spring season, contingent on the lifting of a statewide quarantine. The closure of school buildings into June made those possibilities void.

The MHSAA’s Executive Committee, comprised of officers of the larger Council, affirmed the decision Friday to cancel the remainder of this school year’s activities.

Because the five winter sports were not able to conclude with finals, no champions will be awarded in those sports for 2019-20. However, championships won at earlier rounds of those tournaments (district or regional) will continue to stand.

The MHSAA will in coming weeks provide guidelines and other information pertinent to this unusual offseason as attention is turned to preparing for Fall 2020.

Reaction to the cancelation of the winter and sports season can be found online at leaderpub.com.