It just reduced the "all-american" honor to that of a participation medal
oprahed wrote:
It just reduced the "all-american" honor to that of a participation medal
Just like D1 did years ago when they started awarding AA status to every qualifier.
Good idea to award all americans. However, they could have drawn the line elsewhere like top 8 seeds, top 8 from tffrs list, or maybe top 8 as 1st team and next 8 as second team.
Years ago it was top 25 in xc, then it went to top 35 and now top 40. It also used to be top 6 in track.
As a former d3 Track runner i got 7th one year and missed out. It still disappoints but those were the rules then. I am ok with making it top 8 and even top 40 in xc. I dont lose sleep over it and while it might seem watered down there are now more overall runners in college xc and track. The ncaa meet has 100 more runners in the field and in general the depth is very good. No problems with this at all and happy for those to have been recognized, especially first timers.
oprahed wrote:
It just reduced the "all-american" honor to that of a participation medal
Except they didn't even participate
oprahed wrote:
It just reduced the "all-american" honor to that of a participation medal
Yeah, it just kind of lessened the value of what All-American means. I also was curious as to why this was only a D3 thing.
I still can't believe the NCAA canceled nationals while half of the teams were already out practicing on the track. It greatly increased the risk for catching covid-19 for all those involved for no reason. Incredibly bad move.
Not only a DIII thing. Sounds like DII is doing the same thing as well. Stay tuned!
I am okay with it but will look strange if somebody is a 5 time AA in an event.
not sure wrote:
Years ago it was top 25 in xc, then it went to top 35 and now top 40. It also used to be top 6 in track.
That's not how it went.
Cross Country All America went from top 25 to the top 25, plus the number of Americans to total 25 . Then it was top 30, plus Americans to total 30. Finally it went to top 40 regardless of citizenship.
The first year it went to top 25 plus was 1974. I should know, I was 39th place, the 25th and last American to earn All-America.
Swimming's CSCAA (College Swim Coaches Association of America) did the exact same thing over all 3 divisions way back in early spring. Since AA honors are based upon the NCAA performances they understood that awarding the honor based on entry times (eg. fastest 8 seeds) was unfair to those athletes who had not yet peaked for the season. With no valid way to predict NCAA performances, awarding AA to all qualifiers or awarding NO AA honors this season are your only fair options.
It is extremely painful to lose your NCAA meet opportunity, but hopefully getting an AA certificate can take a little of the sting out of it.
The best part about AA in track and sports like swimming, particularly in DIII, is that it is based on performance at the championships versus just a consensus by committee that dilutes the awards down with first, second, third and honorable mention teams. In track you're top-8 or it is like you were never there. That's cutthroat and, frankly, the way it should be.
Go to diii historians report
1994 diii xc all americans went from 25 to 35
2017 diii xc all americans went from 35 to 40
Predictors wrote:
I am okay with it but will look strange if somebody is a 5 time AA in an event.
I don't think this would be the case, since that would require someone to have extra indoor eligibility which wasn't granted as a result of the virus. Maybe if they had extra due to injury
Perhaps at a time when cross country and track are getting dropped at schools around the country and coaches are being let go and furloughed due to budget cuts an organization whose name implies they represent the interest of cross country and track coaches would find better ways to spend their time than to name an All American team from meets that never took place. This move shows their complete lack of power in the sport and how out of touch they are to the threat to their existence, the sports they care about, and the livelihood of the people they claim to represent.
Firstly, you’re assuming ADs at D3 institutions understand or care about T&F. Team sports typically win out in priority because ADs understand wins and losses. Secondly, most D3 programs survive by recruiting numbers to their schools. In both these situations the awarding of All Americans makes sense. Third, former swim coach... the coaches association for swimming made this same move for all three divisions two months ago. So track is following their move. Fourth point, every athlete who competes at the D1 T&F championships are already All Americans. D3 is behind the times with only awarding to the top-8, while D1 awards 1st, 2nd and honorable mention.
There was a lot of resistance to awarding top-8 only this year, but greater resistance to not awarding any All American honors. It’s not perfect but it’s not so short sighted to say pretend we never had a season, especially when athletes lost eligibility and aren’t on scholarships to return as to pursue their lost outdoor season.
How many qualify for nationals? I assume nationals were the same time as D1 so that all qualifiers were set.
DIII should stay top 8.
Make it worth something. Between indoor and outdoor and combining genders you're looking at almost ~1,750 AA awards if you go the participation trophy route vs. something closer to 750 if just top 8. Rough estimate based on number of events and factoring in relays.
Don't cheapen AA status just so kids stop crying they choked in their prelim.
This is only for this year. You do understand that right? The criteria for AA in D3 has not changed but in order to name AA in this strange season, it was decided to name all qualifiers. In future years with a championship taking pace, it will still be top 8 only.