After the NCAA canceled all winter and spring championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Iowa senior thrower Allison Wahrman created a petition on Change.org that called for student-athletes to gain another year of eligibility.

The petition currently has over 189,000 digital signatures just over 24 hours after being posted.

“Due to the Coronavirus, many NCAA student-athletes have been stripped of a year of eligibility before they were even able to compete,” Wahrman said in the petition. “All of which, have been training for countless hours in order to achieve their personal and athletic goals. We understand why the NCAA are taking these precautions and believe that the issue is bigger than sports.

“However, having a year of eligibility taken away from these dedicated athletes simply is not right. If you are an NCAA student-athlete, or support NCAA athletics, we urge you to sign this petition in order to allow the NCAA to give back this year of eligibility to student-athletes.”

Since the petition was created, the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee announced that it agrees that eligibility relief is appropriate for spring sports.

“Council leadership agrees that eligibility relief is appropriate for all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports,” the committee said in a statement. “Details of eligibility relief will be finalized at a later time. Additional issues with NCAA rules must be addressed, and appropriate governance bodies will work through those in the coming days and weeks.”

Since that announcement by the NCAA, Wahrman has updated the petition with the statement from the Council Coordination Committee and the caption, “PROGRESS!!”

Wahrman has also seen support on social media for her leadership on the issue, including from Iowa track and field’s throwing coach Eric Werskey.