I think it's a pretty well known fact that DII has the worst qualifying system in the NCAA.
First off only 16 individual qualifiers (2 per region) make up the field of 184 total runners at nationals. Each year there are All-Americans left out.
Secondly the way they pick the # of teams per region is poor because the regions are so unbalanced.
Out of the 8 regions, instead of each region getting two automatic bids (16 teams total) like now and the other 8 slots being distributed to the regions with teams who were in the top 8 at nationals the previous year, I have a suggestion.
Why not make each region only get 1 automatic bid and the other 16 slots go to the regions with teams in the top 16 the previous year? AND have at least 3-4 individuals per region qualify instead of just two.
As it is, you could be a very good team that falls somewhere in between say 10-20th ranking every year and never make it to nationals. The system doesn't work for good teams caught in the middle, but it works for the weeker regions and regions with a couple dominate teams to get extra bids.
Example what if your region only has 2-3 bids, but 5-6 teams easily ranked between say 8-20th and they are proven good?
Any thoughts on this?