The NCAA News - News and Features
The NCAA News -- July 5, 1999
Track committee develops new criteria for meet status
Establishing criteria that must be met for a track and field competition to be considered a countable meet was a major discussion item during the Men's and Women's Track and Field Committee's June 21-24 meeting.
The committee voted to recommend to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet and the Divisions II and III Championships Committees a list of seven criteria that would be requirements for an event to be counted for NCAA purposes. Out of the seven, six previously had to be in place for a mark to be accepted as an NCAA championships qualifying standard.
New to the list of criteria recommended for Divisions I and II is that a minimum of two four-year institutions with a minimum of 14 athletes per gender per institution must compete. The recommendation for Division III includes the minimum of two four-year schools but with no minimum number of competitors.
The remainder of the criteria are:
A minimum of 10 events per gender must be contested;
Men and women shall not compete together in a running event (except the 10,000-meter run);
Contestants or spectators shall not officiate;
The competition shall be held on certified and regularly used facilities;
Official results shall be kept and available for inspection (photos, hand times and field-event results must be retained); and
Implements shall be measured and weighed.
Among the other rules changes the committee approved were:
Making the viewing of videotape by athletes during event competition illegal. For example, a competitor in the throwing events would not be allowed to watch videotape between throws while his event is being contested.
Specifying that any scientific apparatus used to measure height or distance in field events must be certified by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, track and field's international governing body.
Allowing the long and triple jumps and the throwing events to be conducted as four-attempt competitions if the limits of time or facilities require. Previously, these events must have included three preliminary attempts for all competitors and three additional attempts for those who advanced to the finals.
The committee's division subcommittees also took several actions:
Division I
Confirmed that the distance of the women's cross country championships race will increase from 5,000 meters to 6,000 beginning in 2000.
Eliminated the weekly results reporting form for cross country. Instead, coaches will be required to submit a form summarizing their results at the end of the regular season.
Voted to recommend to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet that the 2002 men's and women's outdoor championships be held at Louisiana State University and the 2003 outdoor championships be held in Sacramento, California, with California State University, Sacramento, and the Sacramento Sports Commission as hosts. The recommendations are contingent upon upcoming site visits.
Eliminated the entry form and coaches locator form for both the indoor and outdoor championships.
Voted to recommend to the Championships/Competition Cabinet that individual awards be presented to the top eight finishers in each event of the indoor and outdoor championships, rather than the top six, and that the women's 3,000-meter run be replaced by the 3,000-meter steeplechase beginning with the 2001 outdoor championships.
Asked the United States Track Coaches Association (USTCA) to discuss the possible implementation of the women's decathlon and prepare a report for the Track and Field Committee's annual meeting in June 2000.
Voted to establish an ad hoc committee consisting of Division I subcommittee members and USTCA representatives to draft a proposal for regional qualifying for the outdoor championships. A survey of Division I institutions to determine a preference between the current absolute qualifying method and regional qualifying resulted in a vote differential of less than 1 percent. The regional-qualifying proposal is to be completed in time for presentation to the Championships/Competition Cabinet in February 2000.
Division II
Voted to recommend to the Division II Championships Committee that the indoor championships in 2000 and 2001 be held at the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. The Eastern College Athletic Conference would serve as host.
Announced that a banquet for coaches and athletes would be reinstated at the indoor championships. The banquet was not held when the Division II championships were at the same site and on the same days as the Division I meets.
Confirmed that the 2000 men's and women's outdoor championships would be held at North Carolina State University with St. Augustine's College as host.
Announced that the proof-of-performance form could be filed via electronic mail beginning in 2000.
Eliminated phone-in declarations for the outdoor championships but maintained them for the indoor championships.
Set the last qualifying date for the 2000 indoor championships as February 26, with the exception of conference meets, which have a deadline of March 4. The last qualifying date for the 2000 outdoor championships is May 14.
Discussed replacing the women's 3,000-meter run with the 3,000-meter steeplechase beginning in 2001.
Elected Jeff DeGraw of Lewis University as chair of the subcommittee and Dick Clay of the University of North Dakota as the division representative to the rules subcommittee.
Division III
Voted to recommend to the Division III Championships Committee an increase in the number of participants in the women's outdoor championships from 331 to 344. If approved, the increase would equalize the field size for men and women and provide for the addition of the women's pole vault.
Confirmed the following sites for the 1999 regional cross country qualifiers: Central -- Wartburg College; Great Lakes -- Ohio Northern University; Mideast -- Frostburg State University; Midwest -- Augustana College (Illinois); New England -- Babson College; New York -- State University College at Geneseo; South -- University of the South; and West -- Lewis and Clark College. The championships will be November 20 at the University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh.
Modified the entry form so that the same document could be used for both the indoor and outdoor championships.
Developed an evaluation form to be filled out by the NCAA championships liaison after each championship. The form will be shared with the host and filed at the national office.
Voted to recommend to the Championships Committee to change the date formula of the 2000 outdoor championships to the fourth Saturday in May and to add the 3,000-meter steeplechase to the women's outdoor championship, beginning in 2002.
Supported the concept of receiving track and field declarations by electronic mail. The committee will further discuss the issue at the cross country championships in November.
Selected Millikin University to host the outdoor championships in 2001, pending Championships Committee approval.
Named Don Nichter of Dickinson College as the division representative to the rules subcommittee.
Voted to issue a public reprimand to State University College at Cortland for entering an athlete in the 1999 indoor championships who subsequently did not attend the meet.
|
