2019 River States Conference Cross Country Championships

November 9, 2019 | , Pa.

Hosted by: Alice Lloyd IU Kokomo Asbury Midway Brescia Christian Carlow Point Park Christian Rio Grande IU East WVU Tech

Introduction This championship manual has been prepared by the RSC commissioner’s office and host officials from Carlow University, and is intended to provide comprehensive information related to the 2019 River States Conference Cross Country Championships.

Coaches should thoroughly review this document and bring it with them to the championship.

If you have any questions, please contact Michael Schell at the RSC office (541-331-0522) or [email protected] RSC Code of Behavior

In upholding and acting upon the principles, traditions and responsibilities enunciated in the River States Conference Statement of Philosophy, the Conference expects, and will insist upon, maintenance of commendably respectable standards of decorum and personal deportment of all players, coaches, officials and spectators at Conference contests.

In this regard, referees are recognized as fully in charge of such events, with full and undeniable authority to sustain such standards and take whatever enforcement or disciplinary actions, including declaration of game forfeiture, as are necessary and appropriate. Specifically; threatening, disruptive, unsportsmanlike, disrespectful, violent, harassing, and/or seriously distracting behavior will not be tolerated. In implementing this policy, the senior game official should, at the beginning of each event, clearly outline with the team captains and coaches the standards of behavior and decorum that will be upheld and enforced.

As a matter of Conference policy, all referees have the full support of the Conference Commissioner's authority, as authorized by the COP and Administrative Council.

The River States Conference wishes to exemplify behavior of a kind that will deserve and command the respect and support of the public and campus communities which they represent and with which they relate, as well as the NAIA at large.

Table of Contents

Page 4 Contact Information

Page 5 Schedule and Checklist

Pages 6-11 General Meet Information

Page 7 Hotel Information

Page 9 Medical Information

Pages 10-11 Registration Information

Pages 12-13 Course Maps

Page 14 Weather Policy

Contact Information

RIVER STATES CONFERENCE

Michael Schell, Commissioner Cell: 541-805-5192 Email: [email protected]

Kevin Taylor, Sports Information Director Email: [email protected]

CARLOW UNIVERSITY

George Sliman, Director of Athletics Office: 412-578-8826 Cell: 412-260-3308 Email: [email protected]

Karina Graziani, Sports Communications Manager Office: 412-578-6310 Cell: 814-279-5649 Email: [email protected]

Maria Yeater, Athletic Trainer Office: 412-578-6332 Cell: 412-551-7516 Email: [email protected]

Tony Anderson, Head Coach Michael McLaughlin, Associate Head Coach Office: 412-578-6230 Office: 412-578-6230 Cell: 412-354-7230 Cell: 412-420-9841 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

ADDITIONAL MEET PERSONNEL

Meet Director: Rich Wright Cell: 412-607-1794 Email: [email protected]

Meet Referee: Bruce Long, John Lotus

Starter: Bruce Long, Rich Wright

Clerk: TBD

Timing System: Miles of Smiles, Herb Cratty

Finish Chute Coordinator: Rich Wright

Protests/Jury of Appeals: Protest forms will be handed out and the Jury of Appeals selected at the Coaches Meeting on Saturday, November 9.

Schedule of Events Time Event Site

Friday, November 8 2:00 – 6:00 p.m. Course open for inspection/practice Schenley Park (note: course will be fully painted but not flagged until Sat.) Course Committee will make final review of course for official certification

Saturday, November 9 10:30 a.m. Men’s 8K Schenley Park

11:30 a.m. Women’s 5K Schenley Park

12:30 p.m. Awards Ceremony* Schenley Park

*Awards presentation will be at the Hospitality Tent at the Park

National Meet Automatic Qualifications

Teams For each gender, conferences/independents will receive one automatic berth per six teams participating in postseason. The winning team in the RSC meet will receive the AQ. If there is a tie for first place at a conference/ A.I.I./unaffiliated group qualifying meet, then the tied first place teams qualify for the national championships. This will not affect the number of at-large berths. The second qualifier is the runner-up team from the championship race provided they are ranked in the top 30 of the national rankings.

Individuals Conference/independent/unaffiliated groupings of 12 or more teams. Top 6 finishers not on a qualifying team (automatic or at-large) Individual overall finish must be 20th or better

Championship Checklist

Item Due Date To Whom Completed Team Entries Oct. 31 Submit via DirectAthletics.com per NAIA guidelines On-Course Nov. 8 Nov. 6 George Sliman Practice Request (if needed outside 2-6pm timeframe) Request for Carlow Showers/ Nov. 6 George Sliman Locker Rooms post-meet

Meet Information DATE AND LOCATION The 2019 River States Conference Cross Country Championships will be hosted by Carlow University on Saturday, November 9 and conducted at Schenley Park, 1 Overlook Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Please note: You must type in 15217 zip code, as there is another location in the city with the same address.

STARTING TIMES 10:15 a.m. EST Men report to start 10:30 a.m. EST Men’s race (8,000 meters)

11:15 a.m. EST Women report to start 11:30 a.m. EST Women’s race (5,000 meters)

CHAMPIONSHIP FORMAT The men’s championship will cover 8,000 meters; the women’s championship will cover 5,000 meters.

PRACTICE/COURSE INSPECTION The championship course will be available for inspection on Friday, November 8 from 2:00 – 6:00pm. Please note: the course may have some turns not fully roped off until race day.

ENTRIES All entries must be submitted through DirectAthletics.com by Thursday, October 31, per NAIA guidelines. See instructions on pages 10-11 in this manual, or in the NAIA Cross Country Coaches Manual. Final declarations shall be made at the coaches meeting on Saturday, November 9.

TIMING Timing will be done using state-of-the-art chip timing. Chips will be disposable and attached to bib numbers.

COACHES’ PACKETS Packets will be distributed at the coaches meeting Saturday, November 9.

SQUAD SIZE Per RSC Guidelines, institutions are not limited in entries and do not need to declare their top seven.

CONTINGENCY PLAN (from Sport Guidelines) In the event the Conference Meet cannot be held or completed, statistical ranking will be used to determine the team(s) and individuals qualifying for the NAIA National Cross Country Championship.

TEAM PARKING Team parking will be located along the road leading up to the Schenley Park Oval.

LOCKER ROOMS A request for locker rooms must be made by Wednesday, Nov. 6 and will be provided at the Carlow University campus, 3333 Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213, located approximately two (2) miles from course.

RESTROOMS Restrooms will be located between the Hospitality Tent and the Courts.

MEDICAL INFORMATION Carlow will coordinate on-site medical coverage. See information related to medical coverage on page 9 in this participant manual.

Meet Information PREFERRED HOTEL INFORMATION

Hampton Inn Hilton Garden Inn 3315 Hamlet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 3454 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 412-681-1000 412-688-1993

Quality Inn University Center Holiday Inn Express 3401 Boulevard of the Allies, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 658 E. Waterfront Dr Munhall, PA 15120 412-683-6100 412-205-3904

Cambria Hotel Double Tree by Hilton Hotel and Suites 1320 Centre Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15219 1 Bigelow Square Pittsburgh, PA 15219 412-381-66867 412-281-5800

Courtyard by Marriott Days Inn by Wyndham 401 W. Waterfront Dr Pittsburgh, PA 15210 1150 Banksville Rd Pittsburgh, PA 15216 412-462-7301 412-531-8900

COACHES’ MEETING A coach’s meeting will be held Saturday morning beginning at 8:45am location: Hospitality Tent on site.

BOX DRAW Starting boxes will be drawn in advance by the commissioner and announced at the coaches meeting Saturday morning.

RULES The meet will be conducted in accordance with the NAIA Coaches Manual and the NCAA Cross Country Rule Book.

SCORING A team shall consist of the entered participants, but only the first five finishers for each team shall be counted for scoring purposes. The sixth and seventh runners for each team shall be used to displace.

Individual runners shall be permitted to compete when full teams are not entered. However, these institutions shall not be considered for the team championship.

Point values shall be equal to the finish place by each individual. The team with the lowest total, after adding the scores of the first five finishers on the team, shall be declared the conference champion. (Per NAIA rules, if there are ties for the team championship, tied teams qualify for the national championships). Ties will not be broken.

Meet Information

MEDIA INFORMATION/RESULTS Karina Graziani will be the Media Coordinator for the championship. Results will be posted on the River States Conference web site following the event.

ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM The River States Conference male and female 1st team all-conference cross country teams will be comprised of the top seven (7) finishers in each championship. The 1st team all-conference winners will be recognized and plaques distributed during the awards ceremony. The 2nd team all-conference winners will be comprised of the 8th through 14th place finishers and receive a certificate.

RUNNER OF THE YEAR Selection of the male and female Cross Country Runners of the Year will be determined by the runner finishing first in each race.

NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR The Conference Newcomer-of-the-Year Award will go to the top freshman runner in the race; unless an upper-classman “newcomer” is identified at the pre-race coaches’ meeting - then that runner will compete with the freshmen to receive the award.

COACH OF THE YEAR Selection of the Cross Country Coach of the Year will be determined by a vote of conference coaches immediately following the posting of meet results.

AWARDS CEREMONY The awards ceremony will take place following the completion of the second race and no sooner than 30 minutes after to allow for protest period. The following awards will be given for each Championship during the ceremony:

à Champions of Character Certificates à 2nd Team All-Conference Certificates à 1st Team All-Conference Plaques and Certificates à Newcomer of the Year Plaques à Coach of the Year Plaques à Runner of the Year Plaques à Championship Team Trophies

Meet Information– Sports Medicine

Hello!

I would like to extend a welcome to you and your teams to Pittsburgh, for the 2019 River States Conference Cross Country Championships.

We will be providing Sports Medicine services the day of the race. If you have any student-athletes requiring assistance we will be located in the medical tent on site at 8:30 a.m. on November 9, 2019.

Please notify me via email of your teams’ sports-related needs by Thursday, November 7, 2019. All teams should come with a stocked medical kit regarding their taping and specific sports-related needs.

The information below will also be in the participant booklet for coaches.

Sincerely, Maria Yeater MS, LAT, ATC UPMC Sports Medicine Carlow University Head Athletic Trainer 3333 Fifth Ave. Pittsburgh PA, 15213 (412)578-6332 (office) [email protected]

Sports Medicine Information to assist you and your teams:

Sports Medicine services will be provided by Carlow University Sports Medicine so please notify me (via email) of your sports medicine needs by Thursday, November 7, 2019 5 p.m.

All teams should come with a stocked medical kit pertaining to taping and specific sports related needs.

On the day of the meet, the athletic training staff will be available at the medical tent beginning at 8:30 a.m. Unfortunately, we will not have access to modalities or heat packs the day of the race.

The following items will be made available for your use at the sports medicine area at the race venue:

Water and cups Ice bags Emergency/first aid supplies Crutches Automated External Defibrillator

Medical Facilities Near the Course: UMPC Presbyterian- Emergency Room – 2.2 miles/8 min. from park Address: 200 Lothrop St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 Phone: 412-647-2345 Shadyside Urgent Care – 3 miles/11 min. from park Address: 5231 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15232 Phone: 412-623-4114 Steel Valley Express Care – 2.4 miles/8 min. from park Address: 4630 Browns Hill Rd., Pittsburgh, PA 15217 Phone: 412-421-1000

Meet Information

ENTRY PROCEDURES All entries for the national championships and qualifying meets are to be submitted online through DirectAthletics no later than October 31. Entries submitted after October 31 shall be charged a $25.00 late fee. No entries will be accepted after November 1. In order to participate in the conference/independent/unaffiliated or national meets, competitors must be registered through DirectAthletics. Entry fees for the national championships are payable at registration on Friday, November 8. If you are not sure which team members will qualify, enter all team members by October 31.

All runners are prohibited from running in conflicting meets on the dates of the qualifying/national meets. Violations shall result in disqualification from the national meet.

Pursuant to policy upheld by the National Administrative Council (NAC) if an institution declared intent to participate in postseason, it must send a full team (minimum 5 runners for each declared gender) to participate in post season national championship qualifying meets. Failure to do so is a violation. Please refer to previous page Section VII, Policy Handbook Information for specific details.

How to Submit Online Entries

Complete all THREE steps to enter athletes in conference/independent/unaffiliated and national championships.

STEP 1 - Access your DirectAthletics Account Each coach must have a DirectAthletics username and password for his/her school. If you don’t know your username and password, you will be able to create one or retrieve your existing account by following the instructions below. If you already have a DirectAthletics account for If you do NOT know your username your Cross Country team, and know your and password… username and password….

Go to www.directathletics.com Go to www.directathletics.com

In the login box, enter your username Click on the link “New User? Click HERE.” and password and click Login. Follow on-screen instructions. You will be able to create (Remember, your password is case sensitive) an account online or retrieve forgotten information for an existing account.

NOTE ABOUT ACCOUNTS Most coach accounts control a school’s Men’s AND Women’s team. You control only one gender at time, so you will complete the below steps for your Men, and then switch to your Women’s team and repeat the process (or vice versa). The team you are controlling is listed on the blue navigation bar across the top of your account, for example:

Sport: Cross Country Team: Bacone College (M)

This indicates that you are controlling the Bacone College MEN’S team (M=MEN). To switch to your Women’s team, you would select “Bacone College (W).”

Meet Information

STEP 2 - Edit/Set up Your Online Roster

Before entering an athlete into a meet, you must add all attending athletes to your roster. If an athlete is already on your roster (from previous seasons) you do not need to add him/her again. Most schools will just need to add new athletes and delete athletes no longer on the roster.

1. Upon logging in, click the TEAM tab. 2. If you have used DirectAthletics before, you will see last year’s roster. School years are automatically moved forward one year. You can click “Import Track Roster” which is listed on the left. You will be able to add athletes from your Track roster to your Cross Country roster. If you do not see this link or you are new to DirectAthletics, skip this step. 3. Click the green “Add Athletes” link under the Team Roster header. Select an approximate number of athletes you would like to add (you can add more at any time). 4. Enter your athletes First Name, Last Name and School Year (all other information is NOT necessary) and click “Submit.” 5. You may add, edit or delete athletes on your Team Roster at any time before the deadline by clicking the TEAM tab.

STEP 3 - Submit Online Meet Entries

Once your athletes are added to your roster, you must declare your athlete entries for your postseason qualifier meet to complete the entry process.

1. In the HOME tab (under Upcoming Meets) or in the SCHEDULE tab, click the green Register button next to the meet you wish to enter. 2. Check off the box for each athlete you wish to enter. You can check the “All” box to select (or deselect) your entire roster. 3. When you have completed your entries, click “Submit.” You MUST click “Submit” to submit your entries. 4. You will see your current, submitted entries on the “View Entries” page. At any time before the entry deadline, you may edit your entries by clicking the “Edit Entries” link. 5. For entry confirmation, simply print the “View Entries” page or click the Email Confirmation link at the top of the “View Entries” page. An email confirmation will be sent to the email address on your account.

Meet Information Course Maps - 5k

Meet Information Course Maps - 8k

Lightning/Severe Weather Policy

Chain of Command

The decision to delay or terminate the River States Conference Cross Country Championships practice or event in the event of lightning, severe weather, and/or storms will be made by the RSC Commissioner and the meet officials, in consultation with Host staff and sports medicine department personnel.

1. If inclement weather is in the forecast, the AD or site administrator will meet with officials, coaching staff of both teams, and the Athletic Trainer onsite to review the lightning protocol. 2. If lightning detectors are available, they shall be used as the distance monitor for lightning. 3. If lightning detectors are unavailable, the following methods should be used as the distance monitor: 4. Flash to Bang Ratio A. Count seconds from the time lightning is sighted to when the clap of thunder is heard. Divide this number by 5 to obtain how far away (in miles) the lightening is. (ex. 20 sec count = 4 miles ) 5. Weather bug app A. “Spark” feature will identify how close lightning is to the area. 6. Once lightning enters a 30-mile radius of competition or practice begin preparations to protect athletes, coaches, staff and spectators. 7. All outdoor athletic activities should be suspended and all personnel evacuated to a safe structure if thunder is heard- “hear it and clear it”. If thunder is heard, it is likely that lightning is within 8-10 miles and could strike at your location. 8. All outdoor athletic activities should be suspended and all personnel evacuated to a safe structure if lightning is within 10 miles of the location. 9. Communication of the risk level and gathering locations (safe structures) will be announced from the press box to the spectators. A. Head Ups – Lightning within 30 miles. B. Begin Safety Procedure – Lightning within 20 miles C. Danger – Lightning within 10 miles (suspend activity and send all personnel to safe structure) D. All Clear – Lightning has not been detected in a 20-mile radius or in the last 30 minutes. 10. AD or site administrator will communicate information to the officials, staff and athletes of both teams. 11. If a severe weather warning (thunderstorm or tornado) is issued by the NWS, immediately evacuate all personnel to a safe structure. 12. A safe structure is any fully enclosed building that contains plumbing and/or electrical wires that act to electrically ground the structure. Stay away from windows, walls and electronic devices attached to wall (including landlines). A. If no safe structure is available, take shelter in any vehicle with a hard metal roof and closed windows. B. Dugouts, open pavilions, trees, roof overhangs, etc. are NOT considered safe structures. 13. Stay in the safe structure until the AD or site administrator has given the “All Clear.” 14. Activity may resume 30 minutes after the most recent sign of lightning/thunder.