I. Those
attending: Carl Rickershauser (NJSIAA Rules Interpreter), James Casey
(Assistant to Meet Director), Lou Fraulo (North 1 Meet Director), Wayne Letwink
(North 2 Meet Director), Beth Moroney (Central Meet Director), James Camburn
(South Meet Director), Frank Calise (Fraulo Timing Systems), Joseph McLaughlin
(Coach of Notre Dame), and John Shea (Coach at Eastern High School).
II. Review
of Season – Every one agreed that the three weekends went very smoothly, with
only a few “bumps” along the way. For the Meet of Champions, because of the
size and intensity of the crowd at the starting area, all finish line and
finish chute personnel will be present at the start of each race to help in
crowd control.
1. Frieda
Nelson – Qualifying from Sectionals to Group Meets. Ms. Nelson would like to
see wildcard advancers from sectionals to Group Meets. There was a lengthy
discussion because many coaches of the larger schools are in favor of wildcards
from the sectional level. However, the majority of the committee felt that
cross-country is a
2. Stan
Fryczynski questioned the length of the course at
3. John
Pontes suggested that meet management should collect the place cards from
coaches because he knows of many instances where coaches write anything down on
the summary card just to get it done and handed in. In the future, Meet Directors will be asked
to collect the place cards and staple them to the Summary Card to prevent a possible
mess if there appears to be a problem with the tear-offs in the team scoring.
4. Tom
Purdy complained about what appears to have been an illegal action by a Pingry
coach. Since it was not reported by an official, there is nothing that can be
done. However, the communication will be forwarded to Pingry.
5. Brendan
Donegan made a proposal for changing the advancement from Groups to Meet of
Champions: Top 2 teams in each Group (i.e. 12 automatic qualifiers) plus the
next 8 fastest teams who place 3rd, 4th, or 5th.
Place overrules time when times are tied to the second. Individual wild card
advancement will not be changed. After considerable discussion, the proposal
was passed. This proposal will have to be approved by the NJSIAA Program Review
Committee and two votes of the NJSIAA Executive Committee.
6. Jack
Martin would like individuals and teams intermixed on the starting line at
groups and Meet of Champions. Discussed, put no action taken. The main feeling
was that the Teams should be given preference on the starting line because
cross-country is first and foremost a team sport. However, the committee did
direct the meet director to make pole position #1 on the right (from the
starter’s point of view) which is the opposite of where it has been and that
the individuals be place on the line after the teams, but according to the
times/places from sectionals in the group meet and times/places from the group
meet in the meet of champions.
IV. Policy Items
1. Because
of a problem that occurs on occasion, the committee adopted the following new
regulation: 40 minutes after the start
of any race in the cross-country tournament (Sectionals, Group Meet, and Meet
of Champions), the race will be declared over and no additional scoring will
take place.
2. Does
Cross-Country need to adopt the sports-specific method for grouping schools?
This item was discussed at the requests of coaches particularly from the south
section because in Group One Girls there were only 44 in the race with 4 team
finishers. The boys in the same section had only 9 finishers. Things were just as
bad in North 2 and Central (6 and 5 respectively in the girls Group I and 8 in
both sections for the boys). Group 2 was almost as weak for the girls (10 in
North 2, 13 in Central, and 9 in South). The committee decided to table it
until a statistical analysis can be done to see what a sports-specific grouping
would look like. It will be done as soon as possible and sent to the committee
for action next year.
3. It
was proposed and passed that individual awards go to the top 20 finishers in
the Meet of Champions (both boys and girls). That is an addition of 5 medals
for both races.
4. The
park has reported problems with runners going into the areas that the park has
declared off limits (the farm and the arboretum). Also, athletes are tearing
down the signs that mark these limits. Therefore the following regulation will
be added to the tournament regulations:
Schools who have any athlete(s) caught
violating the areas that are off-limits to runners in
V. Tournament Regulations
1. Next
year’s Dates:
Sites remain the same
2. Sectional
Order of Events
Site:
3. State
Group Order of Events
Awards Ceremony for each group will following (approximately) the
following schedule:
Site:
4. Meet
of Champions
Site: