ECSC Minutes
April
25th, 1999
Worcester,
Massachusetts
Attendees:
Mark
Sullivan – WPI
Laura
Sullivan – WPI
Glen
Gaebe – WPI
Jason
Moore – Green Mountain College
Bill
Toof – Boston College
John
Risley – Amherst College
Kim
Bownes – Plymouth College
Dave
Geiger – Plymouth College
Mark
Anderson – Brown University
Phil
Carabillo – Brown University
Tim
Gawenus - St. Anselm College
Tommy
Eckfelot - Colby Sawyer College
Jack
Kramarczyk - Tufts
Anne
Schmidt - Tufts
Steve
Samolewicz – Smith
Jonathan Shefftz – MIT
The office of Treasurer is
elected annually each spring meeting. The
membership discussed reelecting Coach MacConnell. Coach was reelected to serve another term unanimously.
Phil Carabillo will assist Coach to become more familiar with the
responsibilities of the treasurers position.
Currently
the ECSC is under represented at the National level. Each of the 12 conferences receives one vote at the National
meeting. The western portion of the country is divided into many small
conferences each with a vote, while the east is grouped into several very large
conferences each with only one vote despite the size of their membership.
The result is under representation for schools in the east.
Currently, a committee at the national level is reviewing this imbalance. Additionally, the number of berths to the USCSA National
Championships is being reevaluated by same
committee.
Mark
Sullivan asked for updated contact information. Schools without full time coaches are encouraged to include
information for their Athletic Director or Club Sports Coordinator.
Jason Moore requested to
discuss division realignment.
Jason would like to explore
possibilities to expand the field of competition available to his team.
Access
to the NCAA Regionals at Middlebury was brought up. The method of selection for this event was reviewed.
Bill Toof stated that the Osborne Division is granted 15 spots for
varsity men and 15 spots for varsity women.
Moore questioned Osborne solely controlling access to the NCAA spots.
Jason would like the opportunity for GMC to qualify for the Middlebury
Race. Bill Toof indicated that an
arrangement could be explored to permit GMC access to berths to Middlebury.
Bill Toof noted that the objective of USCSA teams should not be to attend
NCAA events. Bill stated he felt
attending the Middlebury race hurt ECSC’s chances to obtain additional berths
to the USCSA Nationals.
Jason
then stated that he was hoping for more than just gaining access to the
Middlebury race. He requested the
discussion focus on realignment of the divisions. Moore called for a "redistribution of talent to make all
three divisions equal." Discussion
turned to whether or not a system was needed to regularly realign teams each
season. Phil Carabillo said just because a team is dominant in a
particular collegiate division, doesn't mean that they should move year to year.
Phil sited examples from NCAA Division I.
Bill Toof added there was movement of teams in the past.
He felt it was disruptive to the individual school programs. The disruptions, he felt, jeopardized the necessary support
from Athletic Directors. Bill
indicated he supports a policy of strengthening division instead of realignment.
Dave Geiger also stated that the answer was to strengthen the Thompson
Division, rather than take good teams away and weaken it.
Kim
Bownes stated she felt viable solutions should be explored.
Mark Sullivan added the opportunity to climb needs to exist for all
teams.
It
was suggested to have one day where the Osborne and Thompson teams cross over
and race each other in an out of division. The date suggested would be Sunday,
January 30th and it will be a GS.
Mark
made a motioned to form a committee to review the pro's and con's of various
realignment possibilities. The
following coaches were nominated to the committee to discuss the Cross Over Race
and Division realignment:
John
Risley, Jason Moore, Kim Bownes, and Sparky Anderson
Bill
Toof encouraged the membership of
the ECSC to form a goal or a mission statement.
The
meeting then adjourned.