Steve Savarese, Executive Director of the Alabama High School Athletic Association, said Wednesday night that all AHSAA athletic events would be shut down immediately due to probable cases of swine flu that have shut down three school systems in the Huntsville area.

“Right now, we are being advised by our Medical Advisory Committee to shut down all activities until further notice,” Savarese said. “We hope to be able to resume activities by next Tuesday, but right now we must study the situation and take it one day at a time.”

That means the AHSAA state track and field championships scheduled for May 1-2 at Gulf Shores and Troy will be rescheduled. It also affects the Dallas County sectional softball tournament that was to be held on Thursday.

All other postseason activities scheduled through Monday May 4 are also being postponed until further notice including baseball, soccer, softball and golf.

“This is not something we want to do,” Savarese said. “Right now, we want to be cautious.

“We hope to have everything rescheduled by early next week — as soon as we have more information from the State Department of Health and our Medical Advisory Committee.”

High school athletic activities were shut down in Texas earlier Thursday due to confirmed cases of the swine influenza (H1N1), a type A flu virus, that is affecting the U.S.