The quest for a berth to the NCAA Div. III Cross Country Championships will culminate this weekend in the New England Regional Championships. This will be the second season of the expanded 32-team field.
Last year, the NCAA expanded the championship field from 24 to 32 teams and implemented changes to team selection.
In previous years, bids to the national meet were annually awarded to each region based on past the performances of that region in the national meet. A region could have a minimum of one bid and a maximum of five. In 2004, for example, the New England region had five cross country teams finish in the top 15, with three of them in the top five. Not surprisingly, the region again had five bids the following year. In 2004, the South region had its only team, Trinity University (Tex.), finish 24th of 24 teams. The South received one bid the following year.
That system changed last season when the NCAA decided to expand the field from 24 to 32 teams. Now the top two teams in each of the NCAA's eight regions receive automatic bids and the other 16 bids are awarded by a selection committee.
The 16 at-large bids are awarded based on several factors. Most important is performance at Regionals, as only teams that finish in the top five in their region are eligible. The next criterion is late-season meet performance, head-to-head competition with teams already in the championship field, and gap times between a team's top runners. A region can get anywhere from zero to three at-large bids. Twenty-four teams are eligible for bids, but only 16 will receive them.
Additionally, in each region, the top seven individual runners that are not members of a team that earns a national bid will receive an individual ticket to Nationals. That number rose last year from 47 to 56 individuals.
The men's team finished fifth in the New England region and missed an at-large bid, as only two teams from New England were awarded at-large bids. The women were fourth last year at Regionals and earned one of three at-large bids given to the New England region.
The men, who took fifth at the NESCAC Championships, will look to finish in the top four in order to solidify a bid claim. The women, who took sixth at NESCACs and missed fourth by two points, will look to make up some spots to get into the top five
-by Alex Bloom
