How does the sport of Cross Country work?
Where are the meets held?
 Cross-country running is a sport in which teams of racers compete by running an outdoor course faster than other teams. It differs from Track principally in the course, which may include grass, mud, woodlands, and water.
Most of our meets are held in forest preserves or parks - NOT at the high school. Check the boys schedule or girls schedule to find the location of the meets and links for driving directions. Our home course is LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
How long is the race?
A high school race is typically 3 miles. Some soph/frosh races may be shorter.
Each cross country running course is different in composition. Distances are generally 3 miles, however there will be little in common between any two courses other than their distance. As such, accurate comparisons cannot be made between performances on different courses or even on the same course on different years as the weather and underfoot conditions can be significantly different.
How many runners from our school will run in a race?
For the varsity and frosh/soph races, a team consists of a maximum of seven runners. The 'open' race does not have a maximum limit from each school, hence the name 'open'.
How are the races scored?
Cross country running is normally scored on a team basis. A team must have a minimum of five runners start and complete the course to achieve an official score. Points are awarded to individual runners equal to the position in which they cross the finish line (first place gets 1 point, second place gets 2 points, etc). Only the scores of the first five runners for a team are counted towards that team's score.
Low score wins. For example if team A finished 1,3,5,7,9 they would achieve a score of 25 for their team. Conversely team B could possibly have 2,4,6,8,10 with a resulting score of 30. Final score team A - 25 team B -30. Team A wins by a margin of five points.
Tie scores are broken by the relative position of the sixth runner on each team.
What does a race course look like?
 Races are started en masse, sometimes each team having its own pen or box along the start line. A gun or horn is then sounded, and runners have a few hundred feet to converge from the wide starting line into the much narrower path that must be followed until the finish.
The runner is responsible for staying within a specified distance of the marked path. Courses may be marked using various methods, such as tapes and flags. Often, ground markings, cones and/or tape are used. Runners must run between pairs of cones or around cones placed on a corner.
The course usually ends at a finish line located at the beginning of a funnel or chute. The chute is a long, roped walkway that keeps athletes single-file in order of finishing. Less common is an open finish line, which usually involves computer chips (sometimes referred to as "chip timing") attached to each runner. Prior to the finish line, the course may widen to allow more passing.
What equipment do the racers need?
Cross-country running involves very little special equipment. Unless it is particularly cold, most races are run in team shorts and top. Footwear is usually a pair of spiked running shoes, (you can buy at Dick Ponds) which are light running shoes with a fairly rigid rubber sole and a hard plate into which spikes can be screwed. In colder weather, runners will often wear Under Armour shirt and tights under their uniform (Saints wear black).
Contestants may not wear billed
caps, jewelry of any kind, including earrings or adornments such as medallions. Narrow headbands to keep
the hair from interfering with a contestant’s
vision will be permitted. If religious medals are
worn, they shall be taped to the body under the
uniform. Medical medals can be worn.
Contestants with painted bodies or faces as well
as any costumes will not be permitted to compete.
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