Interesting situation

P

psycho_dad

Well-known member
In North Carolina, they do things differently than up here. They just go Regional and then the state meet. They take 4 teams minimum from each regional and then may add a team or two based on 25% formula. So teams may chose to show up to the Regional or not. If 8 teams show, 4 go. But if 20 show, 5 go. 24 show, 6 go. Then, for individuals, they take the top 7 runners not on a qualifying team.

At one of the Regional meets, 4 teams qualified, but the 5th place team that did not qualify took 6 of the 7 individual qualifying spots. They have enough to score a team at the state meet. However, it has been ruled that they will not count in the team scoring.

Let me tell you, there is some bad blood between some coaches and schools down there because there have been years that 5 or 6 teams, just decide the season is over and don't show, or, only put 3 or 4 runners on the line and screw over teams by decreasing the number of teams that can qualify in a region. Having a down year or have a few varsity athletes banged up?, don't take a full team to the Regional and maybe mess over a team in your conference. Talk about making sure you get 5 on the line. The thing is, there are a few of the coaches that just don't care and don't go along.
 
 
Too bad for that team but nice that they got 6 individuals to qualify.

I would like Ohio to adopt the same standard for individual qualifiers.

Take a number after the team qualifiers. For instance now it is based on the the number of teams x 4. So if you have 3 teams you get 12 individual qualifiers. 4x4=16 and so on.

If you go to individuals not on a team then you would do the number not on a qualifying team. You could do a multiplier of 3 instead of 4. NCAA does this system and so do a lot of other states. Golf - the closest sport to cross country in scoring and qualifying also does this in Ohio.
 
Do the NC regions that have teams that do not show lose slots for the following year? Do their schools approve of not showing? I know at one time some major city schools in Ohio had coaching contracts through the league meet. Since they were not invested they did not go to district hurting the sport in a quest for a 4th division.
 
We had three girls qualify as individuals back when the SW only sent three teams to state. Our team missed third place by one point. When our three girls reported to the starting box at Scioto Downs the clerk did not believe the girls when they told him the rest of the team wasn't there.
 
Newton's Third said:
Do the NC regions that have teams that do not show lose slots for the following year? Do their schools approve of not showing? I know at one time some major city schools in Ohio had coaching contracts through the league meet. Since they were not invested they did not go to district hurting the sport in a quest for a 4th division.
Click to expand...

I do not know all the specifics. From what I gather, old timers used to pull stuff all the time, but the younger generation of coaches play nice.

I've seen quite a few teams send 3 to the state meet here in Ohio, but six is unreal to not get out as a team. I like how we do it just fine with individuals now. It always seems to work out fine.
 
EuclidandViren said:
Too bad for that team but nice that they got 6 individuals to qualify.

If you go to individuals not on a team then you would do the number not on a qualifying team. You could do a multiplier of 3 instead of 4. NCAA does this system and so do a lot of other states. Golf - the closest sport to cross country in scoring and qualifying also does this in Ohio.
Click to expand...

This is how Michigan does it, and it's better IMO. Once the team qualifiers are removed/advanced, then the next ___ finishers qualify. It's a predetermined number, based on the number of automatic qualifying teams (can't remember if it's 3x or 4x).

Regardless, more individuals qualify this way, and the field has a set number of participants. As it is now in Ohio, that number varies year to year, depending on the number of individual finishers in the top 12, 20, 24, etc., in each region.
 
I like Ohio better for individual qualifying.
If you are good enough, make sure you can count to 24 at Boardman in the D2
race and be in that group, no guessing involved, the best runners are moving on.
 
billcarson said:
I like Ohio better for individual qualifying.
If you are good enough, make sure you can count to 24 at Boardman in the D2
race and be in that group, no guessing involved, the best runners are moving on.
Click to expand...

Fair point. It is more definitive this way, at least during the race itself.
 
For a period of time in the 1920s-early 1930s in Ohio, the top 2 teams at District (regional didn't come in until 1965) got to send and enter their ENTIRE SQUAD at State. Hence, there are athletes that placed in state meet events that DID NOT COMPETE in that event at district or placed less than the number of athletes qualifying per event!
 
I once had a coach from a rival school tell me that he was glad that his team didn't qualify for the regional meet because he was happy not to have to coach another week. I never wanted the season to end until after the state meet. Knowing some of his athletes, I believe they would have loved another week of competition. There are coaches who just plain don't care.
 
SLS said:
I once had a coach from a rival school tell me that he was glad that his team didn't qualify for the regional meet because he was happy not to have to coach another week. I never wanted the season to end until after the state meet. Knowing some of his athletes, I believe they would have loved another week of competition. There are coaches who just plain don't care.
Click to expand...

WOW! Someone like him (or her) should NOT be coaching any further with that type of attitude.
 
SLS said:
I once had a coach from a rival school tell me that he was glad that his team didn't qualify for the regional meet because he was happy not to have to coach another week. I never wanted the season to end until after the state meet. Knowing some of his athletes, I believe they would have loved another week of competition. There are coaches who just plain don't care.
Click to expand...

there are plenty of coaches that think that
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top