National Collegiate Athletic Association

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The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a voluntary organization through which the nation's colleges and universities govern their intercollegiate athletics programs. It is comprised of institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals committed to the best interests, education and athletics participation of student-athletes.

1 Championships
2 Governance
3 Amateurism and Eligibility
4 Conferences
- 4.1 Division I conferences
5 External links
6 References

Championships

The NCAA conducts separate championships for Divisions I, II and III. They are conducted for Cross Country, Indoor Track and Outdoor Track. There are four regional championships, followed by a National Championship.

Governance

The three divisions have separate governing structures, with the NCAA Executive Committee to decide Association-wide issues. Under the Amateur Sports Act of 1978, the NCAA has the authority to set rules for collegiate competition which is not subject to any USATF supervision or jurisdiction.^[1]

Amateurism and Eligibility

Main article: Amateurism

Perhaps the most controversial and complicated area of NCAA rules govern an athlete's eligibility to compete in collegiate sports. In general, professional athletes are not allowed to compete on college teams, and NCAA rules prohibit paying college athletes for their athletic performances. One notable exception to this rule is that the NCAA allows a limited number of "athletic scholarships" to be awarded to students based on their participation on teams. Division I and II colleges allow for a limited number of track athletic scholarships, while Division III schools do not provide for any athletic scholarships.

NCAA rules also limit the number of years that any particular athlete may compete in a specific sport, as well as specifying a maximum age. This has the effect of assuring that athletes do not remain enrolled as students for the purpose of extending their collegiate careers, or that older athletes will fully-developed talents and physiques (perhaps from foreign countries) do not dominate sports at the expense of recent high-school graduates. Some athletes extend their eligibility by sitting out an entire season of a sport, which is called "red-shirting."^[2]

In Division I only, if a student-athlete has participated as an individual or as a team representative in organized sports competition, that kind of participation during each 12-month period after his/her 21st birthday and prior to initial full-time collegiate enrollment will count as one year of varsity competition in that sport. Any participation in organized competition during time spent in the U.S. armed services will be excepted.^[2]

A student-athlete who is enrolled in a graduate or professional school of the college or university which he/she previously attended as an undergraduate student may participate in intercollegiate athletics, provided he/she has eligibility remaining and is within five calendar years of initial full-time collegiate enrollment for Division I and within the first ten full-time semesters of collegiate enrollment for Divisions II and III.^[2]

A student-athlete who has eligibility remaining and is within the specified five-year or ten-semester period also may participate while enrolled in a graduate or professional school at a Division I or II college or university other than the institution at which he/she completed an undergraduate degree, provided he/she meets the criteria of the one-time transfer exception to the general transfer residence requirement.^[2]

Conferences

In addition to the NCAA providing nation-wide coordination, rules and championships, colleges have also organized into conferences to provide a full season of competition as well as conference championship. The following conferences support competition in cross country and/or track. (There are other, football or hockey specific conferences which are not listed.)