Cross Country and
Track
Carolina Day School Cross Country and Track
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Cross Country and
Track
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Cross Country Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is Cross Country?A. Cross country is a sport run in middle school, high school, and college. It's basically a race where endurance, strength, and strategy are just as important as speed.Q. What is the course like?A. No two courses are exactly alike. Most high school courses are 5 kilometers, or about 3.1 miles, long. Most middle school (grades 7 & 8) are 2 miles. The course can be on any terrain, including grass, dirt, gravel, blacktop, and so on. It may be flat, or hilly. You might run on a path through the woods or on a street. Most courses are predominately grass and trail.Q. How is a meet scored?A. Races are scored by adding the finishing place numbers of the first five runners on each team. The team with the lowest score wins. For example, if Team A's first five finishers come in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th, their score is 21 (1+3+4+6+7). Team B's top five finished 2nd, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so their score is 34 (2+5+8+9+10). Team A would win this meet.The best, or lowest, score a team can receive is 15 (1+2+3+4+5=15), while the highest depends on how many teams are entered in the race. In most small races, such as dual or tri-meets, the entire roster from each team is permitted to run, but only the first five count in the scoring. Larger races with many schools competing usually limit the number of competitors to 7 per team. Q. If only five can score, why do runners that are sixth or seventh on the team even enter?A. While only the first five score, number six is the tie-breaker, and number seven can affect the outcome of the race by finishing in front of the fifth racer from the other team. For instance, if team "A" finishes 1, 3, 5, 8, 12, 13, 14 and team "B" finishes 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, team "B" will win 28 to 29 based on the seventh runner on team "B" (11th place) finishing in front of the fifth runner on team "A" (12th place).
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Cross Country and
Track
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