The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- September 28, 1998

Division I -- In the running

Larger fields give more men's and women's cross country teams a chance to be ...

BY SCOTT E. DEITCH
STAFF WRITER

During the first half of the 1990s, there was little change in the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships. The same certainly cannot be said for the last two years.

In 1997, schools were realigned from eight districts into nine. The plan was developed to provide better balance in terms of the number of schools sponsoring Division I cross country in each district and, in turn, make access to the championships more fair.

This year's change takes another big step forward in improving both a team's and an individual's chance of appearing in the championship. The field sizes for both the men's and women's races will increase by nearly 40 percent.

"The new field sizes are truly representative of what we should have at the Division I championships," said Teri Jordan, women's cross country coach at Pennsylvania State University and past president of the Women's Intercollegiate Cross Country Coaches Association.

From 1989 through 1997, the field size for both the men and women was 184. That number included 22 teams of seven runners each and 30 individual competitors.

The 1998 championships, to be held November 23 at the University of Kansas, will feature 255 participants of both genders. Nine more teams, all of which will be selected at large, and eight more individuals will compose the 71 additional runners.

Automatic qualification unchanged

One aspect of the championships that is not changing is the automatic-qualification procedure for teams. As in previous years, schools that finish first or second in the nine regional meets advance to the national competition.

This is the first field-size increase in the Division I Men's Cross Country Championships since 1981. The number of women's runners had remained constant since 1989.

"When more teams have the opportunity to participate in a national championship, it keeps athletes excited throughout the entire season," said Steve Plasencia, men's head coach at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. "It is a neat thing when more athletes' dreams of competing at the national level can become a reality."

There were 294 men's and 304 women's teams in Division I in 1997. With 44 schools qualifying for the championships, that meant one of every 13.59 teams participated.

Using the 1997-98 sponsorship data, the jump of 18 teams for this year's championship has lowered the qualifying ratio to one out of every 9.65 schools. In combination with the more balanced districts, teams that may have just missed earning a trip to the NCAA championship see their chances improving.

"Having just 22 teams and 184 competitors in the championships was not a fair assessment of the quality in Division I cross country," said Gwen Harris, head of the women's cross country program at James Madison University and a member of the NCAA Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee.

Harris' 1997 team missed qualifying for its first Division I championship appearance in the program's 22-year history by the narrowest of margins, placing third in the Southeast regional, just one point behind Wake Forest University. The Dukes also were not awarded an at-large bid.

"It is a positive thing that this has been rectified," Harris said. "All a team wants is the opportunity to be successful at the national level, and this increase provides more teams with that chance."

The 1997 redistricting began to open doors to the Division I championship to teams that previously had a difficult time qualifying. Three men's teams, including Minnesota, and one women's team made their first championships appearances of the 1990s. In addition, two more women's squads earned spots for the first time since 1991. Plasencia said his team's move from District 4 to District 5 was beneficial to the Minnesota program.

"It did give us some incentive," he said. "It broadened our emphasis in terms of other schools we were watching, and it gave us the opportunity to see new faces at the district meet.

"We have been improving as a squad, going from ninth in the Big Ten Championships in 1995 to fourth last year. But the Great Lakes district (District 4) is so strong, and we would have been competing against many of the Big Ten schools again."

Minnesota earned its first bid to the Division I championships since 1981 by placing second in the Midwest (District 5) regional qualifying meet.

The original proposal in 1996 for a field-size increase called for a jump of 32 participants per gender to 216. Jordan was president of the women's coaches association at the time.

"I was thinking that 32 was a realistic number that had a good chance at being approved," she recalled.

Meanwhile, other coaches had their sights set on an even larger field. Jordan said Gary Wilson, women's cross country coach at Minnesota, and Andrew Allden, women's coach at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, deserve major credit for seeing the 71-runner increase through.

"Gary kept telling me that we needed to ask for the larger increase," Jordan said. "He and Andrew did a great job with all the paperwork and other details associated with the proposal."

Jim Fischer, men's cross country coach at the University of Delaware and president of the United States Cross Country Coaches Association, echoed Jordan's thoughts.

"I am not only happy for the student-athletes who will benefit from the increase, but also for Gary and Andrew for seeing all their hard work pay off."

A major concern in years past was that some of the best Division I cross country teams were not competing in the championships due to a lack of at-large bids. Before 1997, there were just three at-large spots for men's teams and six for women. The addition of a ninth district last year meant 18 of the 22 teams qualified automatically by finishing first or second in the regional meets.

There were three men's and two women's teams that were ranked in the top 22 in the final 1997 pre-championships polls by the respective coaches' associations that did not qualify automatically or receive an at-large bid to the national meet.

Timing benefits

With the addition of nine at-large team spots, Fischer believes the chance of that happening again has decreased significantly.

"We certainly have a better chance of getting top teams to the meet," Fischer said. "If the criteria used to select at-large teams do what they are supposed to, we think all of the top 25 teams will be at the championships."

Jordan identified another benefit of the increase in at-large selections.

"Athletes now will truly be able to peak for the national championships, rather than the regional qualifiers," she said.

The only downside Jordan associated with increasing the field size is in the number of schools that may be able to host the Division I championships.

"Adding runners does mean that the course has to be wide enough to accommodate the competitors. Not all schools will be able to host the championships."

Fischer senses enthusiasm for the field-size increase.

"This is a great step forward for Division I cross country," he noted. "We have been working on this for a number of years. Obviously, we are delighted that we are going to have a better championship."