The NCAA Divisions I, II and III Field Hockey Committees have appointed Jennifer Crispen, field hockey coach and sports information director at Sweet Briar College, as the rules liaison for the sport.

Crispen will work with the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) to answer questions from the collegiate field hockey community.

The collegiate game uses the international rules with modifications from the three field hockey championships committees. All field hockey coaches will receive a mailing outlining the minor changes to the rules for the 2002 season.

In another joint decision at their February 11-14 meeting, the committees voted to lengthen halftime of games during the championship from seven to 10 minutes.

Following are summaries of division-specific actions the committees took during the meeting.

Division I

The Division I committee forwarded recommendations for automatic qualifiers for the 2002 championship to the Division I Cham-pionships/Competition Cabinet. The committee expects to have a final decision in June.

The group also reviewed the 2001 championship, particularly the effects of new travel guidelines put in place for the fall championships after the September 11 terrorist attacks. The committee noted that the policies had been extended for the remainder of the year and that the Championships/Competition Cabinet at its summer meeting will determine whether the policies will be in place for next year's championships season.

Division II

Responding to a division-wide request by the Division II Championships Committee, the Division II Field Hockey Committee spent time designating more specific numerical values to its selection criteria.

The committee also discussed officials' assignments for the championship and noted that because of the 500-mile Division II-mandated radius requirement, it is possible that at some championship sites, all officials would represent the same region exclusively. In response to this, the committee recommended to the Division II Championships Committee (for consideration in the 2004-05 budget cycle) that two flights be approved for officials to work the championship.

Division III

At this year's coaches convention, the Division III Field Hockey Committee heard feedback that coaches wanted regional rankings to be made public. That will happen for the 2002 season.

"Since the championship selection criteria have changed so much in Division III over the last few years, the committee didn't feel comfortable publishing the polls," said Susan Chapman, committee chair and athletics director at Worcester State College. "It isn't a true national ranking, and I think now we are confident that the coaches understand the concept and know that the automatic qualifiers play such a big role in the selection process."

The committee also recommended to the Division III Championships Committee that institutions bidding to host second- or third-round tournament games also should be required to submit a bid for first-round games.