ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- APS can compete in high school sports, the district announced Wednesday night.
The district said it has worked out a plan with the New Mexico Public Education Department to allow high school athletes to compete in all state-sanctioned sports this spring.
Beginning the week of March 8, students at the 13 APS comprehensive high schools will work out in small groups, known as pods, for 14 days, which is required by the state.
If there are no COVID-19 outbreaks during that time, teams may begin full practices, games, and competitions the week of March 22.
Fall sports including football, soccer, volleyball, and cross country will compete within the district on an abbreviated schedule.
They won't be able to travel out of the district because their season, which will start a couple of weeks after many others in the state, doesn't align with the New Mexico Activities Association's calendar.
There still is hope for some quality cross country competition to take place should APS manage to go ahead with hosting the Metro Championships. Seeing as the week of return for Fall sports in Albuquerque is the same as the NMAA State Cross Country Championships, teams might choose to just opt out of competition in preparation for Track and Field only two weeks later.
Winter sports and spring sports, which include basketball, cheer dance, baseball, softball, and track will be allowed to participate in NMAA competitions
Competitions for winter sports are scheduled to start after spring break at the end of March. The APS Athletics Department hopes to post a schedule of events by mid-March.
The deadline for schools to opt-out of Fall sports competition is Thursday, March 4th at 3:00 pm.