Karen-W
YMCA is such a catchy tune!
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Well, in the sense that she has been granted a bye which would have been filled by the 3rd highest scoring woman outside the top 2 at each Sectional, yes, she IS taking away a spot from someone else if she doesn't actually compete at Nationals.Even then, she's not stealing a spot though. She wasn't written into Nationals by some special consideration or by taking away an allocated spot. She's taking the spot she earned outright by the qualifying procedure.
I know on FSU there's often a vocal group about letting others get their 'chance' so they can add Nationals/internationals or whatever to their resumes, but it's still her spot.
You can see this in the Men's list... Since only 8 byes are being used/issued instead of the 10 max (which is the case for the women) due to both Nathan & Vincent deciding well in advance to not compete at Nationals, the 3rd & 4th highest scoring men outside the top 2 at each Sectional are getting spots at Nationals. If either Nathan or Vincent or both of them had said "yeah, I think I'll be there" then, like the women, only the top 2 at-large spots would be open. And, if they did decide, down the road, to not compete after all and their spots weren't filled, then they would have taken those spots away from other men (and we'd probably be up in arms about that too).
All of this is rather ridiculous, though, since 1) we don't know for sure whether or not she really does plan on competing at Nats (yes, the recent article indicated she wasn't), but also, 2) she IS entitled to a bye as the reigning silver medalist/Worlds team member, so while it would be disappointing should she withdraw and not be replaced by the #3 highest scorer, she's still earned that bye and the beef should be not with her but with the USFS for not replacing her if that's what winds up happening. Whatever shape she shows up in is her own business - she earned that bye, whether anyone here likes it or not.