COVID 19 Cross Country DI Qualifying

With the uncertainty of future budgets and viability of Cross Country/Track and Field programs nationwide and to best maintain visibility within athletic departments, I propose a three-year change on qualifying for the NCAA Cross Country Championships. This change would eliminate point chasing at “Mega Invitationals.” This would also regionalize cross country for one year – further softening budgets for their athletic departments.

If Cross Country 2020 does indeed happen, many programs will have difficulty spending money to chase points. If the Fall does not happen, I propose that this be put in place for the 2021 and 2022 Season. Note: Teams can still attend mega Invitationals; however, there will be no at large points to be earned as qualifying will happen ONLY at the regional meet. Regionalizing cross country competition will endear programs to their athletic departments by saving money on travel budgets. I believe that we will still see a quality field at the NCAA Championships.

Qualifying for the NCAA Championships will come solely from the NCAA Regional Championships. Based on a 5-year average – 2015-2019 of qualifiers per region, each region would get a certain amount of “automatic qualifiers” for the NCAA Championships (Outlined Below). The NCAA Championship Field will be 32 Teams for the 2020 – 2021 and 2022 Season.