Courtesy of NCAA.org
Indianapolis -- NCAA Division II championships in men’s and women’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field will have increased student-athlete participation beginning with the 2012-13 academic year.
The top three teams from each regional meet will automatically advance to the finals, an increase of one team per region. Each region will be allotted one additional team berth for each team finishing in the top eight in the previous year’s national championships, which is consistent with the current procedures for selecting the finalists.
Members of the Division II Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee recommended the increase to align access ratios with those of other individual-team sports for Division II.
“We’ve had a big influx with a lot of National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics schools coming into Division II,” said Committee Chair Kim Duyst, who is also the associate athletics director at Cal State Stanislaus. “That has brought in more cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams. Our ratios were pretty high compared to the targets you like to have.”
In the outdoor track and field championships, the current ratio is 1:17 for men and 1:16 for women. The increase in participant numbers result in a ratio of approximately 1:14 for men and 1:13 for women.
All of the championships will be conducted in the same number of days as they currently are. The cross country meets will finish in one day, the indoor track and field championships will end in two days and the outdoor track and field championships will conclude in three days.