My state championship was this past Saturday. I took first (two skiers in my division) my daughters finished 1st and 2nd (two skiers in their division) and my son took first (only skier in his division). Should this really qualify us for Nationals? Plus, there is not a single jump in my state (sorry jumpers, you can't go to Nationals) and our tournament is slalom only (sorry trickers, no Nationals for you either). Not to mention that to run our state championships we need officials from out of state. If states were how you qualified for Nationals instead of Regionals then all the states would be having championships right around the same time, stretching officials too thin. There simply aren't enough officials to run 50 state championships in a few weeks time.
The better solution is for a number of states to band together to share resources (sites, ramps, officials) and create a tournament big enough that there is good competition in just about every division.
We could call that the Regional Championships.