How to Score a Cross-Country Meet, Warming Up For a Cross-Country Meet

Cross-country points are awarded to individual runners equal to the position in which they cross the finish line (for example, first place gets 1 point, second place gets 2 points, etc).

• Cross-country is one of the few sports where the lowest score wins.

Villanova Coach Jack Pyrah helps to
score a Gloucester Catholic meet. 

• Only the first five runners on each team are counted towards their team's score, but: The sixth and seventh runners on each team add to the point score of the opposing team. For this reason, they are sometimes called "pushers" or "displacers," because while they do not earn points for their team, they add points on to the opposing teams score. They are still important to the score.

• Tie Breaker: In the event of a tie score, the team which has the first fifth runner is the winner. (This usually happens a few years each season in South Jersey. This is why every place is so important in cross country.

• The lowest possible score is a 15 achieved by a team's runners finishing in each of the top five positions (1+2+3+4+5= 15).

• If the winning team also took the 6th and 7th place, the losing teams score would be 50 (8+9+10+11+12 = 50).

• The winning team can only count their first 7 places. If the first finisher on the losing team finished 11th, they would still be counted starting at 8th place.

1. A Shut Out: The official score of a shut out or a forfeited dual meet (which happens if one team does not have five runners) is 15-50. This is a perfect dual meet shut out score.

Scoring Quiz: If your team has the first 3 finishers in the race, and you have at least five scoring runners you will always automatically win the meet. True or False? Give an example to prove your answer.

2. We defeat Team A in a dual meet 25-30. Show the scoring for both teams to reach this score. Is there more than one possible scoring combination that will  tally this score? GC                Team A

Warm-up

Have a warm-up routine:
My optimal warm-up is _____ minutes of easy running, ______ strides and ______minutes of stretching.
Remember to give yourself enough time to warm-up.Warm-up close to your race's starting time.

You should be breaking a sweat before the start of the race.

 A good warm-up increases your heart rate, respiratory rate and your body temperature by one or two degrees. A good warm-up will improve performance-- you will run faster and feel more comfortable in the race. Here is a link to more information on some good stretches to do before (dynamic) and after (static) a race. http://ramscrosscountry.blogspot.com/2008/04/real-stretcher.html

For an updated version of this article and others see the new book "Positive Splits"
https://www.amazon.com/Positive-Splits-Running-Stories/dp/1548655341/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=jack+heath&qid=1565713559&s=books&sr=1-3