[quote]Kevin Hadsell wrote:
For like 6-7 years, I was the GL Regional Rep and back in around 2007 or 2008 (I cannot remember at this point), I introduced two items for Regional/National discussion and rule changes. One was to lessen the width of the starting box from 3m to 2.5m so that more courses could be used for Regionals and Nationals. The other was to open the opportunity for an NCAA Regional Championship to be held outside of the geographical region. The first one passed. The second one didn't go far, but maybe it is time for those in charge to possibly consider.
Back in the day, the District I and II meet was held at the same time. Literally the same race. It was the ICAAAA Championships as well. The meet was scored overall and it was scored separately. This is a terrible idea. However, having two regions at the same place (particularly the NE and MA) is not a stretch. The meet could be held at VCP or Lehigh (among others) and not a bad travel for either region.
One issue, having hosted the NCAA GL Regional at Toledo in 2011, is the cost and the time. It is a strain on the staff and the support staff. The NCAA gives little to zero help. They do help cover the costs, however, it is still an expense. Hosting at VCP is a lot of work (having hosted the Heps when I was coaching at Columbia back in 1997) and the permits, parking, etc. is again a strain.
Just a thought that, if the NE Region is struggling to have hosts, that maybe opening the opportunity to host outside the region (and it does not mean that both regions would have to be there at the same time although that is a great day of XC), will help open the process up a bit. I actually thought that it would have been cool at Toledo to host both the GL and the NE or the MW on the same day. Even the MA with PA and WV fairly close by.
Anyway, just a thought. Was interesting to see it play itself out from afar.
~Kevin[/quote
One issue with hosting more districts or regions on the same course on the same day is that if the course is wet it will likely get much more muddy and slippery with each race. That is why the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course website states "For certain periods of time throughout the year, the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course will be closed to prevent any possible damage to the running surface".
I was at the NCAA DI Great Lakes Regional on Friday on The Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Wisconsin. They moved the snow off the course. In so doing they did tear off some grass as seen in the snow piles. The snow removal appeared to do little turf damage otherwise but I doubt most golf courses would want risk serious damage.
The ground was firm but not frozen hard before the womens race. I only saw a few sections of the course. The section of course through woods just SSE of the finish line looked okay even after the women ran through it but by the time the men completed running through it the first of two times about an hour later that section of course was very muddy and slippery. They still had to run through it a second time. I do not know if any other sections were as muddy.
Another issue may be limited parking that cannot support additional spectators and teams. The Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Wisconsin probably has just enough space for the team buses and no parking for spectators. Spectators are bused in from a church parking lot 5 miles away. The line after the Nuttycombe meet was 35 minutes due to usage of just a few shuttle buses. They added shuttle buses for the NCAA Regional so the wait was more like 15 minutesa or so. They would probably need a larger remote parking lot if they hosted more teams. I assume many hosting sites in warmer locations would also run into various problems hosting a single regional and even more problems if they held a second regional the same day.