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Regional Reps, thank you for your assistance in the past and your willingness to continue to serve your region and division III cross country. We have some major issues in cross country that will be addressed in the course of the season with specific items that will require attention at the meetings at the regional championship. 1-The selection process for 2005 will utilize historic data from the
2004 championship. The number of teams and individuals per gender per
region is listed below going men team and individual and then women team
and individual 2-The subcommittee is awaiting final approval from the Division III Championships Committee on the 2006 and future selection criteria for cross country. The championships committee is meeting at the end of September. The basic format of the new proposed method for team selections is: 2 teams per region with 8 teams selected based on at-large performance based criteria, which heavily focuses on late season performance (i.e. the last 2-3 meets of the season). For individuals there would be 5 per region with 7 individuals to be selected based on similar at-large criteria. 3-The subcommittee has recommended a field size expansion for teams and individuals for cross country. The recommendation is to increase teams from 24 to 32 and individuals from 47 to 56. This would increase cross country participation from 215 to 280 per gender. This awaiting final approval by the championships committee at their September meeting. If passed this expansion would be effective for the 2006-2007 year, therefore for the 2006 cross country championship. 4-The NCAA DIII Cross Country Coaches Association should become affiliated with the new U. S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The USTFCCCA came from the old USTCA and over the summer I worked on the new constitution and bylaws for this association as the president of our cross country coaches association. It is my strong belief that we should be join the USTFCCCA. Our track and field association is with the new group as is cross country and track and field for both DI and DII. By joining we would have one dues structure that would support both DIII track and field and cross country. The vast majority of our cross country coaches are also involved in track and field. The dues would pay for all awards for student-athletes and coaches in our present format, assist in the payment for the full time CEO and national office for the USTFCCCA, and provide a single group to recognize the needs of track and field and cross country to the NCAA and our DIII subcommittee. The annual meeting of USTFCCCA will provide for a place for our annual cross country meeting and will have clinics for professional growth. The program dues would be $150 per gender if the institution sponsors cross country and indoor and/or outdoor track and field. This would cover all coaches in both cross country and track and field programs for that gender. The program dues would be $100 per gender for those institutions just sponsering cross country. With this an institution would simply pay one set of dues per gender that would cover all coaches in cross country and track and field. The dues will be paid for one year, January 1 to December 31. 5-I have not been able to find anyone that has a constitution and bylaws for the current NCAA DIII Cross Country Coaches Association. With our affiliation with USTFCCCA, now would be a good time to develop a constitution and bylaws to reflect this new direction. The constitution would closely follow our track and field coaches association constitution and bylaws and those already developed by DI and DII cross country coaches. I hope to have this developed for a vote in the regional meetings. 6-A more complete agenda for the regional meetings will be developed through the regional reps feedback to me. Thanks again for your assistance. I will be in contact throughout the season. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Good luck this season! John
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