ME Distance Runner wrote:
I should probably worry about indoors first, but I can't figure out how the nationals qualifying for Div I Outdoor Track works. I would guess it would be something like the top four runners in each region get out. I'd also like to think how many people think that this new qualifying procedure is horrible. It seems like the ME is stacked in just about every event, with the schools in Michigan, Tennessee, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Arkansas. Why are the same amount of teams in the ME that are in the W and MW together?
I think the point is that outside of around 5-10 schools, the rest of the "Mideast" is pretty thin in talent. The Midwest will be extremely difficult to qualify from in the distances (with Colorado, etc.) as well as the sprints (with all of those Texas sprinting schools). The west is also filled with schools like Stanford and Oregon. The truth is that in some events people from the Mideast will wish they were in an easier region, but in other events people from other regions will wish that they could have breezed through the Mideast. The NCAA is generally extremely careful about making things fair, and they probably did just about as good of a job as they could. Now, discussing whether there should be regional qualifying at all is a good topic to discuss, with no clear answer that everyone can agree to. However, if we accept regional qualifying, then I think that the NCAA's choice of regions was pretty decent.