The application window for the 2024 Boys HS National Championships will be opening soon, in January, 2024.
As usual, the application process is based on a team's historical competitiveness. However, a team's success during this season is also crucial.
Time to Plan
The application process is used rather than an on-field qualification process because teams have to a) demonstrate a willingness and ability to travel to the event and b) should be given ample time to plan. When the old version of the HS National Championships was in effect many teams had less than two weeks between a regional final and the national tournament. This also had a ripple effect on the season, with some regions have their playoffs begin in April to finish up before the national tournament, meaning many HS teams weren't playing in May, probably the best month weatherwise in which to play rugby.
Tournament Turnover
So there is an application process. Applicants are looked at by the HSNC Committee, which judges teams based on their long-term, and recent, competitiveness. This has led to an ongoing change in the lineup of teams. While some competitors have been in attendance every year, most have not.
Since 2016 (seven tournaments, because there was no event in 2020 due to COVID), there have been 168 spots to be filled at the BHSNC. Those spots have been filled by 64 different teams from 26 different states or major regions (we count DC as a major region and also Southern California and Northern California as separate regions). Of those 64 teams, in four (Gonzaga, Greenwich, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Xavier HS) have been to every event since 2016.
What that shows is there is turnover every year. Beginning with the 2017 tournament, an average of between eight and nine teams that participated in the BHSNC had not competed in the previous tournament. So about a third of the teams that compete are new (at least compered to the previous year).
