November 20, 2007 Page 1 of 2 The 2007 NJSIAA Cross-Country Committee Meeting took place November 20, 2007, at 9:30 am at NJSIAA Headquarters in Robbinsville, New Jersey. Present included: Carl Rickershauser* (State Rules Interpreter), Jim Casey* (Central Meet Director), James Camburn* (Executive Committee Representative), Frank Calise, Lou Fraulo (North I Meet Director), Wayne Letwink (North II Meet Director), Joseph McLaughlin* (Coach at Notre Dame), Aaron Oldfield* (Coach at Hopewell Valley), Len Pietrewicz* (Coach at Randolph), and Donald Danser (NJSIAA Staff). John Shea* (Coach at Eastern) was not in attendance. *voting members. First order of business was correspondence. For the first time in many years, there was no correspondence related directly to the championship meets themselves. Evidently the Sectionals, Group Meets, and the Meet of Champions went well. There were many pieces of correspondence dealing with the NJSIAA modification of National Federation Rule 9-5-1 9-5-1 In cross-country varsity level meets with four or fewer participating schools, each school is permitted to enter a maximum of 12 competitors, and according to Art. VIII, Sect. 2, any of the 12 are eligible to score (i.e. there is no pre-race designation of the “top seven”). Varsity meets with five or more teams are limited to seven. Meet management (leagues/conferences or mutual agreement of all the participating schools (such as in “batch” meets) may increase this limit to a maximum of 12 if the course conditions, such as starting line and distance to first turn, can handle the larger numbers. Under no circumstances are there to be more than twelve (12) runners representing a school in a varsity cross-country race. All objected to the maximum of 12 runners representing a school in varsity level meets with four or fewer schools participating. The National Federation rule allows schools or conferences to mutually agree, the NJSIAA Modification currently does not allow for such mutual agreement. The Committee agreed to change the NJSIAA modification to allow Leagues/Conferences to permit more than 12. However, to keep within another NJSIAA rule prohibiting exhibitions, all extra runners must still be able to score. In other words: If a league or conference permits more than 12 runners to represent a school in a league or conference varsity meet, all those running are eligible to score. No runner is to be pre-designated as a non-scorer. Another item discussed was the possibility of video taping the ends of races to make sure the finishes are correct. After much discussion it was decided that if video were used, we would not be able to finalize the results until the tapes were thoroughly reviewed, thus delaying the results for how long? The committee thought this was not practical and even not needed. They did stress that coaches must teach their runners to protect their place in the chute. Officials do a good job, but each athlete must do his/her part to move through the chute and to protect his/her place once in the chute. Next – modifications in tournament regulations. Dates for next year will be: Sectionals, November 8, 2008 Group Meets, November 15, 2008 Meet of Champions, November 22, 2008 Schedule of Races: Sectionals 10:00 am Group III Boys 11:40 am Group IV Boys 10:25 am Group II Boys 12:05 pm Group I Boys 10:50 am Group III Girls 12:30 pm Group IV Girls 11:15 am Group II Girls 12:55 pm Group I Girls Drop Lou Fraulo’s business number since he is now retired 2007 NJSIAA Cross-Country Committee Meeting November 20, 2007 Page 2 of 2 Change Wayne Letwink’s e-mail to wayne.letwink@comcast.net Change Jim Casey’s e-mail to officialgear@hotmail.com Next year’s cross-country classification will be based on this year’s participation. If a school did not participate this year and is not in the classification next year when they are published, will be added where appropriate by the tournament director. Group Meet Schedule 10:00 am N-P B Boys 11:40 am Group I Boys 1:20 pm Group II Boys 10:25 am N-P A Boys 12:05 pm Group IV Boys 1:45 pm Group III Boys 10:50 am N-P B Girls 12:30 pm Group I Girls 2:10 pm Group II Girls 11:15 am N-P A Girls 12:55 pm Group IV Girls 2:35 pm Group III Girls Awards Ceremony 10:40 am N-P B Boys 12:20 pm Group I Boys 2:00 pm Group II Boys 11:05am N-P A Boys 12:45 pm Group IV Boys 2:25 pm Group III Boys 11:30 am N-P B Girls 1:10 pm Group I Girls 2:50 pm Group II Girls 11:55 am N-P A Girls 1:35 pm Group IV Girls 3:15 pm Group III Girls Scorers have requested that coaches not fill out any forms or bid numbers using felt-tipped pens. When they get wet (either by rain or sweat) they smear. Meet of Champions 10:00 am – Boys 10:45 am – Girls 11:30 am – Awards Ceremony New Business The coaches on the committee brought up the desire to have more teams and individuals to the Meet of Champions. They recognize that the start at Holmdel Park for this caliber of competition with 180+ runners is pushing the limit. Therefore they proposed the following: IF the majority of schools with cross-country approve, the Meet of Champions would be moved to Thompson Park in Middlesex County (current site of the Central Sectional) which can accommodate many more runners at the start. If, and only if, the site of the meet were at Thompson Park, then five more wild card teams and 10 more wild card individuals would advance to the Meet of Champions. This would mean that besides the top 3 from each group (18 teams) plus two wildcards for a total of 20 teams, there would be 25 teams advanced. In addition, after all medal winners and wildcard team advancers are accounted for, the next 20 best individuals (instead of 10) would also be advanced. In addition, in recognition of the larger field, individual awards would be extended from the top 20 to the top 25. There are about 300 schools with cross-country. This means that for this to go into effect next year, when the vote is counted, there must be more than 150 schools in favor of this change. The voting will take place in January. 2007 NJSIAA Cross-Country Committee Meeting