The NCAA MenÕs Gymnastics Committee is proposing a reduction in the number of student-athletes invited to the national qualifier.

The proposal, formulated during the committeeÕs annual meeting June 9-11 in Bonita Springs, Florida, will be sent to the Division I Championships/Competition Cabinet for consideration in September.

If approved, only the top six all-around competitors not on a selected team and only the top six event specialists not on a team or invited as an all-around competitor would be invited to the national qualifier.

ÒThis is a safety issue for the individual student-athletes who are invited,Ó said Doug Van Everen, committee chair and head coach at the U.S. Military Academy. ÒDuring competition, individuals are paired with teams and often end up competing at the same time as their teammates. Coaches canÕt be in two places at the same time, leaving student-athletes to compete without supervision.Ó

The proposal doesnÕt change the number of student-athletes that qualify for the championship. It also does not have a budget impact because the NCAA does not reimburse travel expenses for the student-athletes who are invited to the qualifier but do not qualify for the championship.

The MenÕs Gymnastics Committee also is proposing a new formula to determine the national qualifying average for 2004. Currently, a teamÕs and student-athleteÕs top three regular-season scores, including no more than two home-meet scores, are taken, and the highest score is dropped. The two remaining scores are then added to the conference final score and divided by three for the average.

Under the new proposal, the top four regular-season scores would be the starting point, with no more than two home scores included, and the highest score would again be dropped. The conference final score would be added in twice, though, and the total would be divided by five to determine the qualifying average.

ÒThis change would emphasize the importance of the conference Çfinals,Ó Van Everen said. ÒAdding another regular-season score will make more of the meets meaningful.Ó

In other action, the committee determined that using a new date formula in 2003 for competition on Friday, Saturday and Sunday did not have the desired effect; thus, the committee will recommend returning to the Thursday, Friday and Saturday championship in 2004.

ÒThe attendance boost we were hoping for from the change wasnÕt the case, but it was particularly detrimental to the recovery time of our student-athletes,Ó Van Everen said.

The committee had hoped to reduce missed class time but found that most student-athletes missed class Monday because of flight availability. SaturdayÕs and SundayÕs competition became afternoon events to accommodate travel and didnÕt allow 24 hours to recover for the teams that participated in the Friday evening qualifying session.

The previous format featured Thursday qualifying in an afternoon and evening session, followed by an evening session Friday and an evening session Saturday, so each student-athlete was guaranteed ample recovery time.

The committee also is asking the Championships/Competition Cabinet to fund a director of judges. The committee wants to hire a person to communicate line-up changes, assess deductions for procedural violations and answer questions from coaches on judging issues. The individual would have duties outside of the national qualifier, national championship weekend and would not be an event judge during the championships.

ÒRight now, we have a person in charge of judges, but this person also is a judge, meaning he or she cannot be approached,Ó Van Everen said. ÒIt would be positive to increase communication between coaches and judges.Ó The committee also recommended that Lou Burkel, head coach at the U.S. Air Force Academy, be the groupÕs next chair.