btw an alternative I've seen used in other sports is to have a regular
nationals, the winner of which is the official national champion, and
a separate "US Team Selection" contest, the winner(s) of which take
the US team spots. This latter concept might be fun for us, especially
if combined with the regular nationals, which would (presumably) be
the first half of the team selection contest, and allow folks who like
the longer format to stay in the contest even if they don't care to be
on the US Team.