| LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR CHANGE IN NSAA RULES AND REGULATIONS | ||||
| Title: | State Cross Country Individual Qualifiers | |||
| Author: | Jason Polk | |||
| School: | Wisner-Pilger | |||
| NSAA District: | 3 | |||
| Proposal for: | Activities Manual | |||
| Classes Affected: | All | |||
| Activities Affected: | Boys Cross-Country Girls Cross-Country | |||
| This proposal: | WILL increase costs to the school WILL NOT increase costs to the NSAA WILL NOT increase travel for participating schools WILL NOT decrease a student's or coach's instruction time | |||
| Implementation date: | 2025-08-01 | |||
| Sections affected in Activities Manual: | Page 15-16 | Article State Championship Qualifiers | Section 1-C | |
| Summary: | This proposal states that at the district cross country meets, if the number of top-15 individuals who are NOT on state-qualifying teams is less than 10, the next fastest individuals would qualify for the state meet until reaching 10 individuals not already on a state-qualifying team. If there are instances where 4 or more (3 or more in class D) individuals from a non-qualifying team qualify, they would run as individuals at state and would not score as a team. Only the top 3 teams from each district would be eligible to score as a team, as is done currently. | |||
| Rationale: | In many cross country districts, it is difficult for individuals to qualify for the state meet if they are not on one of the qualifying teams, especially in districts with dominant teams. In 2023, in classes A and B, all districts except one (both boys and girls) had four or less individual qualifiers. Several of those districts only had two runners who were not on qualifying teams. Even in classes C and D, where fewer athletes are allowed to run on each team, that number was 6 or less in more than half of the districts. This would allow for runners who are not on a strong team to have a better opportunity to qualify for the state meet. In 2023, the number of runners in the state races ranged from 83 to 131, while the number of runners at the UNK meet held earlier in the year on the same course ranged between 167 and 339, so even with the addition of these extra runners, each race should still be a manageable number. If applied to the 2023 State Meet the increase in numbers would have been: Class A Girls: +23 Class A Boys: +28 Class B Girls: +26 Class B Boys: +30 Class C Girls: +21 Class C Boys: +21 Class D Girls: +17 Class D Boys: +17 | |||
| Pros: | Lessens impact of districts with powerhouse teams Helps struggling teams trying to build a program Ensures that fewer top-quality individuals are left at home More similar to NCAA qualifying procedures | |||
| Cons: | Schools may have to pay for hotel rooms for additional qualifiers | |||