Eligibility: SAIT Indoor Track

2021-22 Season

March 6, 2022

Facts:

SAIT seeks on the eligibility status of Indoor Track athletes who wish to participate for the first time this season at the ACAC Championships.

Ruling:

Article I Section 13 Rule 3 of the ACAC Operating Code governs Indoor Track. It states that “eligibility rules will follow those detailed in the ACAC Operating Code, Section 5.”

Article I Section 5 Rule 4.2 deals with tournament sports, including Indoor Track. That rule states as follows:

4.2. For tournament sports, a student-athlete must be listed on the original certificate of eligibility or on a supplemental certificate of eligibility and must appear on one or more ACAC regular season game sheets in order to be eligible for play-offs.

Exception: Indoor track student-athletes are not required to compete in a grand prix event to be eligible for the ACAC Championships. (Added July, 2016)(emphasis added)

Prior to the 2021-22 season, the Operating Code was revised to include the addition of Article I Section 10 Rule 5.8, which is worded as follows:

5.8 Championship Eligibility (2021-22 Season)

For Tournament sports during the 2021-22 season, a student-athlete must participate (appear on a score sheet) in one tournament of that sport to qualify to participate in the Championship of that sport. Specific to Cross Country Running, the requirement for the Institution to participate in 3 events prior to the Cross-Country Running Championship has been removed. Also removed is the ability to qualify for the Cross-Country Running Championship by participating in another ACAC sport (ex: soccer).

Although Rule 5.8 above is clearly not intended to apply exclusively to Cross-Country Running, it is notable that the rule lowers the eligibility threshold for institutions, which had previously been required to have participated in at least three grand prix events in order to enter a team in the ACAC Championships.

I have been advised by the ACAC CEO that Article I Section 5 Rule 4.2 was to have been removed from the Operating Code prior to the commencement of the 2021-22 season. Its ongoing inclusion in the Operating Code represents an error on the part of the ACAC.

The question is whether SAIT is entitled to rely on the ongoing presence in the Operating Code of Article I Section 5 Rule 4.2 as well as Article I Section 13 Rule 3, which states that eligibility for Indoor Track athletes is to be determined pursuant to Section 5.

In my opinion, the answer is yes.

SAIT is entitled to rely on the wording of the above two rules. In particular, the continued inclusion of the Indoor Track exception in Rule 4.2, which has been in place since 2016, is consistent with a number of changes that have been made to the Operating Code since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, all of which have served to lower the barriers to participation. To ignore Rule 4.2 in favour of Rule 5.8 would serve to increase barriers to participation by Indoor Track athletes.

A ruling in favour of the SAIT Indoor Track athletes is also consistent with one of the ACAC’s core principles of eligibility, which is to “encourage inclusiveness of student participation in athletic activities.” This principle is particularly relevant as we continue to navigate through the second full year of the pandemic.

For the reasons outlined above, the athletes in question are eligible to compete at the ACAC Indoor Track Championships notwithstanding that they have not participated in a qualifying grand prix event.

Sincerely,

Bill Hendsbee 
ACAC Commissioner