16 teams will automatically qualify (2 per region);
16 at-large teams will be selected by the committee to be determined using the criteria listed below; and
Only the top 5 teams in each region will be considered.
The selection criteria below (not listed in preferential order) will be considered to select the at-large teams:
Regional Place;
Late season performance (last 25% of season [last 3 meets]);
Head-to-head competition with teams already in the championship field and other potential at-large teams using late season performance comparisions;
Gap times amongst runners within a team (1-5 runners) at regionals;
Regional meet results - point gap for places of a team's finish and total team score versus the team that placed ahead of them and behind them; and
Late season meet results - point gap for places of a team's finish versus the team that placed ahead of them and behind them;
As I stated, you must be in the top 5 at regionals in order to be considered for an at-large bid. Also, you cannot be selected in front of a team that placed ahead of you at regionals, i.e., the 4th place team cannot be selected if the 3rd place team isn't selected also.
Individuals (56 per gender):
56 individuals will automatically qualify (7 per region);
Remove the team championship qualifiers from regionals and the renumber individuals (not with a qualifying team) to determine the individual national qualifiers.
