#1 No idea how the course could be long unless they left in the chicane after the hill past the baseball field AND routed it to run along the entire length of the HS parking lot and driveway like it did before they replaced with the chicane. There simply isn't anywhere else to add length to the course. Are the people saying this GPSing the course or wheeling it? I've often found that my GPS will hit at least 3.14 miles when my wheel reaches 16,404 ft.
#2 I hope that situation is remedied, or the NE will get short-changed on qualifiers during the next cycle. There are probably a few teams out there who were missing that 5th runner due to soccer, tennis, or some other sport. There may have been a few DNFs, too. I know Rittman, for example, has a team because I watched them win a meet 2+ weeks ago. The younger Gibson sister either did not race at all or did not finish on Saturday. Throw her in the mix, and the team likely places 10th.
Having said all of that, I looked at a few past Boardman Invitationals. I looked at 2011, 2016, and 2019, so 10 years ago, 5 years ago, and pre-2020. In 2011, there were 23 girls teams that scored in DIII and 226 female runners listed in the DIII results. In 2016, there were 48 DIII girls schools that competed, 34 teams that scored, and 327 females were listed in the results. In 2019, 49 schools competed in DIII girls, 30 teams scored, and there were 302 females listed in the results. On Saturday, there were 20 girls teams and 199 females listed in the DIII results. Even if we account for all of the 35:00+ finishers, that is a significant decrease in the number of girls competing form where we were 5 years ago and where we were pre-2020. Maybe it's just me, but MS races seem smaller than they used to be, so this could be a trend rather than a blip on the radar. Incidentally, compared to Boardman, the participation numbers at Galion have fallen off much harder from where they were 10 and 5 years ago. Many DI teams aren't bothering with that meet right now, but the other divisions are seeing some drop-off in participation as well.
#3 I've always agreed with you on this one. If they competed, time them. 35:00+ runners are striving for PRs the same as any other runner.
#4 A coach told me that he liked having the kids return to the team camp in order to collect their chips. The main reason the coach cited for liking the kids to remove the chips at the team camp was that it made it easier for him to address them as a group after the race and make sure they set off to do a proper cool down. I know they've used buckets before, but imagine the lack of buckets this year was done to get kids and their supporters away from the finishing area and get them back to their team areas ASAP.