How many teams are in each region (I found rankings up to fifteen but how many teams actually compete each region)?
How many teams qualify out of a region?
I know, from being on here, there is some formula for determining qualifying to nationals if a team doesn't automatically qualify through their region - I don't care so much about the formula, but how many teams are chosen this way?
How do individuals qualify?
Thanks!
There are roughly 30-45 teams in each region, teams are assigned to regions based on what state they are in so it varies a bit by region, but there were 37 mens teams and 38 women teams that competed in the northeast regional meet last season and this is the general number of teams in a region.
2 teams qualify out of a region automatically. There are 8 regions and 31 teams qualify for nationals, 15 are chosen through the Kolas calculator which is the qualifying formula that determines at-large bids based on team wins throughout the season against national qualifying teams.
The top 5 (I think, might be 4 though) individual finishers at each regional meet who are not on a national qualifying team qualify as individuals.
kolas is the reason that the first week of october every single team goes to paul short and there are no other meets on the eastern seaboard worth going to
letsracer wrote:
kolas is the reason that the first week of october every single team goes to paul short and there are no other meets on the eastern seaboard worth going to
There are almost never more than 10 teams at Paul Short that have a remotely viable shot at going to nationals and maybe another 5 that are close enough to think about Kolas points, yet over 100 teams often show up.
I'm sure that Paul Short dissuades a lot of programs from putting on meets that weekend, but i definitely wouldn't attribute that to kolas. It's just a fun meet on a fast course that Lehigh does a great job of putting on and gives a lot of programs an early season indicator of how they stack up. Not sure I get the hostility.
Also, Arkansas put on what seemed like a great meet on the day of Paul Short. Same with Louisville.
User of Google wrote:
The top 5 (I think, might be 4 though) individual finishers at each regional meet who are not on a national qualifying team qualify as individuals.
It's top 4 individual finishers who are not members of a qualifying team.
There are also a couple of 'bonus' spots for individuals. I'm not sure the exact rules for those individuals but if you're the fifth individual in a region where only two teams qualify you might end up qualifying. Someone who finished in the top ten in a region with no at-large qualifiers is probably better qualified for nationals than 25th place in a region with 3 at-large qualifiers.
So are the Kolas points for each team known throughout the season?
Does a team know its likelihood of making it if it doesn't get an automatic qualifier spot?
User of Google wrote:
There are roughly 30-45 teams in each region,
Mountain region does not have anywhere close to 30 teams
User of Google wrote:
There are roughly 30-45 teams in each region, teams are assigned to regions based on what state they are in so it varies a bit by region, but there were 37 mens teams and 38 women teams that competed in the northeast regional meet last season and this is the general number of teams in a region.
2 teams qualify out of a region automatically. There are 8 regions and 31 teams qualify for nationals, 15 are chosen through the Kolas calculator which is the qualifying formula that determines at-large bids based on team wins throughout the season against national qualifying teams.
The top 5 (I think, might be 4 though) individual finishers at each regional meet who are not on a national qualifying team qualify as individuals.
Google isn't ideal.
OP- lots of incorrect info above. Below is more exact.
First paragraph- Good enough.
2- There are 9 regions, from which 2 teams qualify automatically (Top two) the remaining 13 teams selected for nationals via an at large process comparing the remaining teams to those who place 1-2 in each region. This process IS NOT determined by the "kolas" calculator. The Kolas calculator was created to mimick the selection criteria which is EXCLUSIVELY CALCULATED BY NCAA. Kolas generally comes very close but is not what is used.
3- there are 38 individuals who may qualify- the top 4 individual finishers at the region meet, who are not on teams qualifying for nationals, automatically qualify. There are 2 more at large individuals selected out of the remaining pool of individuals. This is done simply off placing at the region meet. The next two lowest finishers from their region are selected. Tiebreaker is an NCAA committee determination. All individuals must finish top 25 in their region to be eligible.
NCAAquestionasker wrote:
So are the Kolas points for each team known throughout the season?
Does a team know its likelihood of making it if it doesn't get an automatic qualifier spot?
You can sort of play along at home....
Here's what you do: print off the most recent regional rankings, highlight the top two in each region (also 3-4 in certain regions because they will also have a shot to be top 2 at the end)
Then go back and check results occurring post 2nd weekend in Sept. and give points to teams who are ranked first or second in their region.
Where it gets technical and where most good coaches know what's up, is projecting who will actually finish where at the end of the year in each region. Rankings just aren't totally accurate.
One note- if a team gets beat early in the season but runs a team significantly different than the team they run at region, it does not give a point to teams that beat it. ( an "A" team is a team running 4 or more from region team)
Above should read: give points to teams who HAVE BEATEN teams currently ranked in the top two regionally. (Or who you suspect will be those top two teams.
Is there a list/scoreboard somewhere on the internet that has the tabulated "wins" for the season so far? I want to play around with some scenarios to see what it would take for Team A to make the cut if they do not get an auto spot within their region...