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NCAA's Postponed One Day - UPDATED

Following a day that saw at least eighteen swimmers and one coach hospitalized for gastrointestinal problems, the 2010 NCAA Men's Swimming & Diving Championships have been postponed one day.  The illness has struck swimmers from Arizona, Stanford and Texas, but if officials' worst fears are realized, it stands that more athletes could display symptoms and potentially cripple the national championship.

On the eve of the scheduled start of the meet, the NCAA Crisis Management team, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Ohio Department of Health informed coaches that the meet would be postponed until Friday. 

Many coaches, most vocally Brett Hawke supported the decision to delay the meet.  The Auburn head coach explained that he would like to have the opportunity for all teams to enter the meet healthy and that they would much rather swim against the best.

"Maisha Palmer did an exceptional job of handling the situation," explained one coach who felt that the prospect of additional swimmers coming down ill could jeopardize the meet entirely. 

Not all coaches were in agreement with the decision.  Some felt the decision was a result of undue influence by politically-connected teams, while others questioned what kind of precedent the decision would set.  "What if," explained one coach, "a team of just four swimmers came down with this, should the committee not extend the same consideration?"

Conspiracy theories aside, the decision to postpone the meet did not come from the NCAA committee, but rather the NCAA Crisis Management team in consultation with the CDC.  "I was very impressed with how [NCAA Championship Director] Maisha Palmer handled herself," explained one coach.  "She remained calm in the face of several coaches who spoke from their own self-interest."

So now, everyone will wait for another day for a meet that will now run through Sunday night. 

Coaches meanwhile worked to keep their athletes hydrated and away from potentially infected teams.  That hasn't been an easy task considering the small community that is collegiate swimming and the fact that each of the affected teams is staying in a different hotel.  The challenge has also been complicated by reports that some infected swimmers have continued to work out in the competition pool.

One concern is that the swimmers have come down with the highly-contagious norovirus.  If so, several dozen athletes could come down with symptoms in the coming day and threaten the championships entirely.

Dr. Chris Kaeding, Ohio State's head team physician, said earlier Wednesday night that it was a viral infection resulting in nausea, vomiting and diarrhea but no fever which had affected the 19 people. The NCAA would not release the names of the schools or athletes involved.

"We are not sure what caused it but it did not come from the pool facility, or host venue," said Kaeding, who believes the illness should run its course in 24 hours. "We are taking extra measures of additional cleansing of the pool."

Indeed, lifeguards could be seen sanitizing the facility's surfaces immediately after any human contact.

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