> Where is the competition at the Regionals? The guys who would have made the current qualifying marks > during the season are just going to throw/jump/run well enough to move on to the next round. With a > Regional system, won't the distance events become jogs until the bell, when every race will become a > 400? Is that what the sport is about? > > Regionals puts an entire season on the line on one day. Isn't that what the NCAA Championships is > about? At least with chasing qualifying marks, a kid has wiggle room to pick his weather. How will > this impact northern schools where a coach will have to tell a kid that he will have only four meets > during his entire college career to qualify for outdoor nationals, and it won't be in the South.
I think the guy who is able to just run/jump/throw well enough to move on from regionals will be the one who does better at NCAA and at later open meets. It's the guy who picks his weather and his conditions to get the qualifier that will have the problems when there is real competition. Only a select few will really be able to hold back at regionals. And while I personally believe that we should reward the "marginal" qualifiers for the competitive abilities not their times, that's not the real crime of the qualifying time system. The real crime is the top 5-10 in each event who now may go all season and only get in one real "race" before NCAA's. As for telling a kid that his opportunity to qualify for nationals won't be in the south, that's the whole point. It doesn't matter if the regional meet has less than perfect conditions (and by mid-May, conditions are going to be decent in most of the northern part of the country) because the times don't matter. And I have no problem with kids putting the whole season on the line twice during the season instead of only once. In fact, I encourage it. That's what high schools do in various states. And that's what will be the best indicator of how well they do when the real pressure is on at NCAA's. I am definitely sensitive to the concerns of the relay meets and to a lesser extent the concerns over the schedule in general. But I absolutely can't agree with the idea that somehow creating more pressure and more competition is bad. - Ed Parrot
