BOUS Press Release:
New 2010 Championship format includes all six State Medalists
Best of the U.S. management announced today the expansion of Championship invitations to include 2nd and 3rd place finishers at the State Qualifier Races.
“We’ve found a way to preserve the honor and benefits of placing first at your state qualifier,” said co-director Trudy Marshall, “while opening up the unique Best of the U.S. experience to more people.”
Top-placing athletes at the State Qualifiers will still race each other head-to-head, in a single, exclusive Champions Wave. All other qualifiers will go out in the new Wave 2.
Wave 2 athletes expand each State Team from two (one man, one woman) to as many as six, opening up new dimensions of competition for Fastest State Team awards. “Now we’ll have Fastest Women’s State Team and Fastest Men’s State Team in addition to the traditional co-ed awards,” explained announcer/co-director Jerry MacNeil. “We’ll use the two fastest men’s times and two fastest women’s times from each state, so there are whole new strategies for athletes trying to qualify.”
Wave 2 athletes will also be in the running for top individual spots (awards to overall top ten). “We’ve had some instances,” continued MacNeil, “where passdown athletes who ended up racing for their state did take award positions, so Wave 2 could make things interesting.” Colin Riley of Illinois is the most notable example, twice having made the Championship by virtue of passdown, and twice making the Top Ten.
