The Division I subcommittee of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee, in a continuing effort to achieve more comparable advancement procedures among the outdoor track championship’s four regionals, is discussing the possibility of using a "B" qualifying standard to create a minimum number of heats in each region.

The subcommittee is seeking reaction from coaches to the possibility of establishing an "A" standard to automatically qualify participants for the regionals, then using the "B" standard to add participants to fill a predetermined event field in smaller regions.

The objective is to try to equalize the effort that competitors in each region need to exert in order to advance to the regional final.

About 3,200 student-athletes compete in the four regionals, but some regions typically have included several hundred more participants than others, meaning that field sizes could be greater in certain events in the larger regions. There have been occasions in some regions where the field sizes were so small that participants competed in a final only.

The subcommittee previously considered reassigning competitors to other regions to achieve more balance in numbers of competing student-athletes (see the July 14, 2005, issue of The NCAA News), but knowing that such an approach would dramatically increase travel distances to regional meets for a significant number of participants, the committee hasn’t formed a satisfactory realignment plan.

Under the procedure now being considered, field sizes would be determined for events before regionals, then the "B" standard would be used to fill fields where there are not enough "A" qualifiers to do so. All "A" qualifiers will continue to be invited to the regional meet.

The subcommittee, which met July 25-30 in Indianapolis, also:

The Division II subcommittee, during its separate meeting in Indianapolis, discussed the possibility of recommending to the Division II Championships Committee adding events at the indoor track and field championships beginning in 2008.

The subcommittee is considering adding men’s and women’s 3,000-meter runs and also adding combined-events competition (heptathlon for men and pentathlon for women).

Subcommittee members will discuss the proposed action with coaches during meetings later this year before submitting a recommendation next year to add the events during the 2008-2010 budget cycle.

The indoor championships currently feature 15 events each for men and women.

In other actions, the subcommittee:

The Division III subcommittee established a timeline for selection of at-large teams to the men’s and women’s cross country championships, in conjunction with implementation of automatic qualification and at-large selection for the 2006 event.

The championships will include 32 men’s and 32 women’s teams, including 16 automatic qualifiers for each gender and 16 teams selected at large. It also will include 56 individuals per gender — seven automatically qualifying individuals from each region.

Entry forms are due to regional meet directors and team information forms are due from coaches to the national office on the Sunday before regionals (this year, November 5). A copy of the team information form recently was mailed to coaches and will be e-mailed during the season as a reminder.

The subcommittee will announce the championships field at 3 p.m. on the Sunday after regionals (November 12). Entries then will be accepted online from 3 to 9 p.m. Entries submitted after 9 p.m. but received by 11 p.m. will be accepted but considered late and subject to a $100 fine.

This year’s championships will be November 18 at Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio, and hosted by Wilmington College (Ohio).

In other actions, the subcommittee: