[Taylor]

Unfortunately I missed the call, but the question I have falls under the "choosing a regional" umbrella.

When selecting regionals, what weight is given to "primary" and "additional" regionals? I'll frame my question:

The Boilermaker Regional is in our home state, we've been going to it every year, we have lots of friends that compete in that regional and we plan to continue going there. It's within driving distance, so we don't have to charter a bus or get hotel rooms to compete there.

The Queen City Regional is about equidistant from our school, but it is not in our home state; according to school board policy, township buses cannot cross state lines. It's questionable whether we'll have the resources to be able to pay for the additional registration fee as well as travel and rooms. However, if this is a NASA-sponsored event (not yet confirmed or denied), we could be the beneficiary of a NASA grant to compete there. In order to qualify for the NASA grant (if it exists) would we have to, or would it be better to claim the QCR as our primary regional? If the NASA grant doesn't happen for us, we would most likely be unable to attend our "home" event, BMR.

So the question is this: Would it be better to sign up for BMR with registration then QCR as additional, or QCR-then-BMR?

An additional twist is the Smoky Mountain Regional - if it's a NASA regional then it is quite tempting as well (especially given the great reviews from last year's competing teams).