Meet Directors giving the NCAA the middle finger

Free_the_thigh wrote:

How does the chase the pace 5k work, is it just an on track 5k with a pacer?

Chase The Pace V is coming at ya. This time we are going bigger, better and faster than ever (Hopefully!). Join Mile2Marathon Vancouver in partnership with BC Athletics for a night of professionally timed, amateurishly paced 5km time-trials on the track. We’ll have heats for people looking for anything from +25:00 to sub 17:00. Note that results will NOT be eligible for records or rankings. It is all about pride here.

Letsrunners should learn from this post. There should be opportunities outside of the NCAA system for post-collegiates to run but it is simply not profitable. It’s not profitable because the typical poster on this board prides himself on how little he pays to watch/attend events or how little he spends to participate.

I’ve been on the meet director side of sport and it’s a tough, tough battle to fund post-collegiate events.

If you go to a college basketball game or baseball/softball game, there isn't an open one as well. Many post-collegiate seem to feel that they should be allowed to compete in any meet that is being held. If it is a college meet, it is for college athletes. There are a number of reasons why open athletes shouldn't be allowed in.

1. Adds to the duration of the meet by adding athletes (the meets are already very long). People seem to feel that it's all right

to add a "few", but if a meet is open, the numbers can be significantly different, adding to the meet duration.

2. If it's a college meet, college kids should be allowed to win. Would an NBA team win March Madness? Obviously, so why

not give the collegiate an opportunity to come away with a win at a college meet.

3. It creates more work. A college team is going to show up as a group, and the coach pays the entry fee. An open athlete is

going to show up when their event is up. The person who's job was to collect the entry fees may be long gone, and the open

athlete would think nothing of competing without paying. Or, they may not show up at all, which happens a good

amount. In either case, the college pays Direct Athletics for their entry, and the timer for entering them, but don't always

get the entry fee. Too many run for free and it isn't the colleges job to fund their hobby.

4. If the open athlete is good, there are several races that they can get into, and if not, complain to USATF. They're the

governing body and should assist those athletes under their jurisdiction. If the athlete isn't that good, what do they add to

the meet? I don't want to watch a 45 yr. old sprinter in a speed suit run 59 in a 400.

It is not the college's job to offer competitive opportunities for anybody but their athletes. If they wish to do so in order to raise money for their program, that is their choice. If they don't, it's still their choice.

Word Vomit wrote:

In the 2019 NCAA Rules book it states

Publishing Entries (Rule 4-1.11)

The meet director shall publish, as part of the online information for the competition, a ranked list of event entries disclosing all performances used to determine entry in each event and the source of those performances.

Many meet directors continue to not disclose the entry marks when posting a accepted entry list. Is this because they don't know the rule or just don't care? Stanford and Florida Relays are two prime examples from this weekend.

Will the NCAA ever start enforcing this rule?

"Shall" doesn't mean it's a requirement to publish a ranked list of entries with performances. In other words, it's not a rule to publish times.

I think it would be fun to not even post who is in what heat. Just tell everyone what heat they are in and let them show up and see the competitors when they line up.

I believe ‘shall’ when used in the NCAA rule book is synonymous with ‘must.’ I served as P5 meet director for 11 years ending this year. Until NCAA does something to enforce it it wont changed. They tried a couple years ago requiring POP thru Directathletics otherwise NT/NM and that was discarded before the season started.

Yuil wrote:

Playing devil’s advocate, I’m not sure why people think that meet directors (or anyone else, for that matter) should go out of their way to let post-collegians into their races. If you’re not a collegian or a professional, then you’re a hobbyist. Do hobbyists in other sports compete against pros and collegians? Do they get upset about the lack of such opportunities, or feel entitled to have them?

I know you're playing devil's advocate, but I'll still counter it.

I am not a professional runner. I work a full time job and train on my own time and dime. I pay for my travel and meet entry and get nothing in return for my running. I don't have an agent. I run sub 64 for half, sub 29 for 10k, sub 14 for 5k, and sub 8 for 3k, still working toward that sub 4 mile though. By your standard I am a hobbyist, but from a performance standpoint I am just as good as many of the professionals that are also in their mid 20s. So because I am not a "professional", I should throw in the towel and stop competing at high level meets and stick to low level all-comers meets?