Determination of Participants
Qualifying Procedures
To be eligible to participate in the 2002 NCAA Division I Men?s and
Women?s Cross Country Championships, teams and individuals must
qualify in their respective NCAA regions. [Note: Conference meets
may not be conducted in conjunction with NCAA regional qualifying
meets.]
The formula for the number of teams and individuals permitted to
qualify from each region is as follows:
Teams
1. The top two teams at each regional championship meet (sevenperson
teams) automatically qualify for the championship meet.
Thirteen additional teams will be selected on November 18 using
the criteria listed below.
2. The selection committee will determine at-large berths by examining
the following criteria in order of importance, with (a.) being the
most important. Most recent competition shall be given greater
consideration when applying the criteria. If an institution enters
two teams at two different sites, the ?A? team, as designated by
the institution, will be the team considered for the at-large selection.
Further, if an institution enters a team in an event and designates
it as a ?B? team, the team will be considered as such unless
the team is comprised of three or more of the team?s top seven
runners. The top seven runners will be those individuals who
competed at the regional qualifying meet.
a. Regional finish (Note: A fourth-place team in a region may not
be selected for an at-large berth ahead of a third-place team
from the same region; however, a fourth-place team from a
region may be selected ahead of a third-place team from
another region). The situation may arise when the next team
under consideration from a region (Team X) does not have
enough wins (points) to earn an at-large bid, but the team
immediately behind Team X (Team Y) does have enough wins
(points) to be selected. In this case, both teams X and Y will
receive at-large bids. Any additional teams still under consideration
for at-large selection will not be awarded wins (points) for
having beaten any team (Team X) advancing to the championship
finals by virtue of the wins accumulated by the teambehind it in the region. This aspect of the at-large
selection
process can be employed only one time per region and only
the first time it is necessary to do so. This process cannot be
applied to the final at-large selection.
b. Number of wins (points) against teams qualified for nationals
from the last full weekend in September (Friday, Saturday and
Sunday) through November 16.
c. Results of head-to-head competition between teams being
considered for selection from the last full weekend in
September (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) through November
16.
d. Record against common opponents from teams being considered
for nationals between the last full weekend in September
(Friday, Saturday and Sunday) through November 16.
e. Top individuals (i.e., runners who can score highly at nationals).
Note: The selection committee will break ties in regular-season
competition for the sole purpose of awarding wins (points) for
advancement purposes. Ties are not to be broken by meet
officials on published results.
3. A regular-season team-reporting form is included in a mailing to
coaches. Coaches are strongly encouraged to complete this form
and fax it to Mark Bockelman (317/917-6826) at the national
office no later than 3 p.m. (Eastern time) November 13. Failure to
submit the form could jeopardize a team?s chances of being an
at-large selection. It is inappropriate for anyone to call committee
members to discuss any team?s potential at-large berth, or to
send entire sets of results.
Individuals
1. From each regional championship meet, first four individuals not
on a qualifying team automatically advance to the finals.
2. Two additional qualifiers who will be selected at-large based on
the highest nonqualifying finish in regional championship meets.
3. All individual qualifiers must finish in the top 25 in their region.
Total Competitors Per Gender
31 teams of seven persons each = 217
Individuals
(who are not members of a team) = 38
Total = 255
Breaking Ties to Advance to Championship Finals
Team Competition. Ties in regional championship meets for the purpose
of advancement to the championships finals shall be broken by
comparing the place finish of each team member 1-5 versus their
respective competitor on the opposing team (Team A?s first finisher
The advancement advantage goes to the team winning the majority (best of five) of the comparisons.
Individual Competition. To break a tie for any at-large individual
selection, the time differential between tied runners and the last automatic
individual qualifier (the fourth-place automatic qualifier) from
their respective regions will be compared. The runner with the smallest
differential will advance.