For months the flrunners.com discussion board has been filled with a swirling, one-sided debate about new rules adopted by the FHSAA that could limit the eligibility of teams or athletes. The dialog has been largely dominated by coaches outraged with these new legislations. These discourses, however, often have ended with more questions than answers.
Three items in particular that have been added to the state cross country manual
for this fall have been under fire:
This rule is mainly criticized since many coaches have different ideas about training
and racing. According to many techniques, over-racing is extremely detrimental
to an athlete's training regimen. However, since all meets (including dual or tri meets) count toward the total it has proven the least controversial.
Major problems though could possibly occur should hostile weather rainout one more or more scheduled meets.
According to this rule, should a runner become injured and miss more than half of the season he
or she would become ineligible for the state series. Coaches and fans have been especially
up in arms about this inequality with other sports. No such rule exists for a member of
a football program, critics of the bylaw point out.
This rule (and possibly 14.022) has been applied to our sport due to occurrences in other sports, namely golf and tennis. \"The rule was instituted at the state office to prevent golfers and tennis players from just going to state and cleaning up,\" says FACA Chairman, Coach Rick Rothman, who had a recent conversation about this rule with Ron Allen (FHSAA CC Director).
This rule will have no bearing on any team awards; even if the runner did not compete at the district or regional level (barring eligibility violations in 14.022), he or she can still receive a team champion or runner-up medal. BUT, in the case that an athlete missed either district or regional for any reason (medical or otherwise) that runner may not be awarded any individual prize.
By action of the FHSAA, exceptions can be made to these mandates. Any and all appeals must
be made to the FHSAA before Saturday (the sooner the better). Ron Allen can be contacted
at (352) 372-9551x300, faxed at (352) 372-9086, or emailed at rallen@fhsaa.org.
Good luck to everyone this weekend and play fair! It\'s about the kids, not winning at all costs!