watchout86 wrote:
NY not often being competitive is an issue, but it isn't always going to be the case. However, I do think the overall quality of the meet can be improved by making some changes.
IMO, there are 5 things that should matter, in rough order:
1. Accessibility to NXR meet and the qualification process. There should be, as much as possible, similar accessibility to NXR no matter where you're from around the nation. That means huge, sprawling geographic regions are not desirable, and meets should be located near major airports and close enough to drive in a day from as many population centers as possible.
2. All AQ bids should be granted based on head to head results in fields comprising multiple states. New York currently has it's own regional, which is a problem. So does California. California doesn't have the issue of often not being deep enough, which shouldn't be surprising since it's a massive state that is more populous by itself than a few of the other regions. However, the California teams/athletes aren't forced to face the best from other states to earn their way, and don't even face off head-to-head against all of the participating teams from their own state (qualifiers are determined by a power merge of the best X teams, and individuals selected based on the best times from all the different races).
3. No teams or athletes should be excluded just because their state championship is on an unfortunate date.
4. Some kind of conflict with Brooks Nationals is inevitable unless you want the meet in late December. Those conflicts can be minimized by changing the date of the meet and inviting the top X finishers from Brooks if needed to allow participation for individuals that wouldn't otherwise be able to do both (e.g. individuals out west).
5. Historical performance at nationals, historical perceived depth at regionals, and current/trending population of the region, etc. should have some consideration, but shouldn't override the other concerns.
With that in mind, my solution would be:
1. Move the national meet to be a week after Brooks, and invite the top 5 finishers from the meet that weren't already qualified. This is necessary to be able to allow individuals from California and any state that is in the same NXR region as California to compete at both meets instead of having to choose.
2. Condense the regional races from 9 (with 2 state-only regions and 8 actual NXR races) to 7 by splitting up 2 of the historically deepest regions (Southwest and Midwest) and rearranging the geography of the east coast regions to make meets more accessible and regions more similar in population. Keep the field at 22 teams (which means 8 At-Large spots instead of 4), and raise the regional cap from 4 to 5 (because there are fewer regions and most of the regions would be more competitive than today). Have 7 individual qualifiers from each region instead of 5. That only adds 4 more athletes to the field than there are today, and with the added 5 Brooks At-large spots that would only be 9 more.
The 7 regions would be:
Northwest (held in Spokane WA, since Eagle Island in Boise was no longer working out) = Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and Utah
Southwest (held in Los Angeles CA, or maybe at Woodward Park) = California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii
South (held in Dallas TX, or maybe stay in College Station) = Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado
Midwest (held in Minneapolis MN, or maybe Madison WI) = North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois
Mid-East (held in Pittsburgh PA) = Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Delaware and DC
Southeast (held in Atlanta GA) = Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Mississippi
Northeast (held in Boston MA? or maybe just stay at Bowdoin in NY) = New York and the New England states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massaschusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine)
The Southwest, Northeast, Mideast and Southeast regional races would need to be held the week after Thanksgiving (the current week of NXN). The Northwest could be held as late as Thanksgiving weekend (though preferably probably the week before), and the Midwest and South could be held either the week after Thanksgiving or before Thanksgiving.
As an example of how this would have worked out, IMO the probable AQ teams and potential At-Large this year for boys would have been:
Northwest = Herriman UT, Jesuit OR, American Fork UT, and then 2 out of Westlake UT/Lincoln OR/Mead WA
Southwest = Jesuit CA, Redondo Union CA, San Clemente CA, Mira Costa CA, Woodbridge CA
South = Niwot CO, either Coronado CO or Southlake Carroll TX, Austin Vandegrift TX, and then either Summit CO or Jesuit LA
Midwest = Plainfield North IL, Downers Grove North IL, and then in some order Sioux Falls Lincoln SD, Rock Bridge MO and St. Louis University MO
Mideast = CBA NJ, Columbus North IN, Noblesville IN, Haddonfield NJ, State College PA
Southeast = Christ School NC, Broughton NC, Belen Jesuit FL, McCallie School TN, Buchholz FL
Northeast = Pinkerton Academy NH, North Rockland NY, Bishop Hendricken RI, Concord-Carlisle MA, Ward Melville NY
If we assume all the actual NXN qualifiers were invited, that means SO #3-4, NW #3-4, SW #3-4, MW#3, and ME#3 for all 8 At-Large selections. Changes would be NE#6 Pinkerton Academy NH displacing NY#2 Ward Melville NY (projected NE#5), MW#3 Noblesville IN edging out NE#2 Haddonfield NJ (projected ME#4), and MW#4 Downers Grove North IL displacing HL#2 St. Puis X NE (projected MW#7). All 3 of those changes would have the opportunity to race head-to-head with the teams that I projected to replace them, so it's purely 3 weaker AQ teams seeing more competition in a stronger regional field.
Sorry but Utah in NW is a terrible idea. Utah had 2 non qualifying teams. OR had 2 and WA should've had one(Free Mead). You're turning the new NW into the old SW. You're points are also self contradicting, Utah is much further away than every other state in NW, save Alaska.