CROSS COUNTRY FAQs
For those who are new to the sport of Cross Country, here are the answers to questions about the sport.
- What is Cross Country?
Cross country is a sport in which teams run a race on an open air course over natural terrain such as dirt or grass.
- How far do you run in meets?
In high school, cross country courses are 5,000 meters or 3.1 miles in length. This is often referred to as a 5k race.
- How far do you run in training?
In training we run anywhere from 2-10 miles. Beginning runners will build slowly and experienced runners sometimes run farther.
- When is summer conditioning?
Summer conditioning typically begins within the first or second week after school ends for the semester.
- What if I have never run before?
Most high school cross country athletes have not previously run before joining. We will have athletes of all skill levels. It's a great way to meet friends before school starts, and often multi-sport athletes use cross country to be in prime condition for later competitions.
- When does the season start and end?
The Season officially starts on the first day of fall sports, set by CHSAA. Successful athletes on the team start running during the summer to build a base (typically takes 8 weeks) so you can build up your endurance and strength prior to when school starts. Typically runs are 3-5 miles a day or 20-40 minutes of running with a day off for recovery. It starts with less runs and more days off to prevent injury and help runners who haven't been running ease into getting into shape! For JV the season typically ends around October 15th and Varsity, if we make it to the State Meet, October 31st.
- How many Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors are on the team?
Typically 7-10 runners from each grade level are on the Girls XC Team. Keep in mind we get new runners every year! Typically, when people join, they remain as part of the team for all 4 years. We have 23-30 members total on the Girls Team and the same on the Boys Team, 60ish athletes total. The Boys and Girls Cross-Country teams train together for practice, do team dinners and activities together throughout the season and are a big unified group at meets.
- What is a Cross-Country Race and how is it scored?
A Cross-Country race (XC) is run on a course that is 5k, or 3.1 miles in length. In a Varsity Race, the top 7 fastest runners will compete and in a JV race, the next seven runners on the team will compete. Sometimes there are Freshmen-only races and Open races that have runners from all grade levels compete. The race is scored like golf, where the lowest score wins. The place that a runner finishes is worth that number of points, for example 1st place is 1 point, 2nd place is 2 points and so on. For each team, the score of the first 5 runners are tabulated, and compared against each other team. If the total points of the first 5 runners are equal, they then use the score of the 6th runner's place to break the tie and determine who wins.
- How do you separate JV and Varsity in XC?
Varsity is the Top 7 finishers at each meet. We do a Time Trial at the beginning of the season to determine that for our 1st Meet. Each meet it can change, so if you run JV in a meet, but run a faster time than the 7th runner, you will be on Varsity for the next meet. Varsity can only miss 3 practices the whole season and JV 8 practices the whole season.
- How often, and when is practice?
Practice is everyday after school Monday-Friday from 3:30-5:00 or 5:30 pm, depends on how long the run is.
- Are there races? If so, when and how often?
There are races, typically we have 1-2 per week. On our Google Classroom is the Cross-Country Meet Schedule.
- Does the LHS XC team compete against other high schools? If so, which ones?
We are in 5A for CHSAA so compete against these schools in most meets: Dakota Ridge, Mount Vista, Rock Canyon, Heritage, Fort Collins, Fairview, Palmer, Castle View, Liberty, Boulder, Valor, Monarch, Regis Jesuit, Legacy, Cherry Creek, Fossil Ridge, Arapahoe, Rocky Mountain, Poudre, Cherokee Trail, Lakewood, etc. We also have meets in the surrounding areas of Lakewood so we compete against other Colorado schools such as Elizabeth, Green Mountain, Buena Vista, to name a few. We race against a lot of different schools!
- Are there uniforms?
Yes there are! We will pass those out at the start of our season.
- What do you need for Cross-Country?
A pair of running shoes (good for about 300 miles), athletic clothes (such as wick-away shirts, shorts, etc.). For practice, handheld water bottles will help keep you hydrated. For meets, many runners use running shoes with spikes (similar to Track shoes, but with shorter spikes)
- Does the team use the track? If not, where would we go?
We will do some workouts on the track (new track as of this school year) and the others we will run to surrounding parks and areas such as Crown Hill, Addenbrooke Park, etc. We typically run from the school or carpool, if needed, to drive to a reservoir or park for a workout.
- What is the fee to be on the team?
Runners pay the $185 Jeffco Athletic Fee required for all athletes, and each year there may be an additional team fee, which is typically less than $100. Students on the Free & Reduced Lunch program may have the Jeffco fee waived, but they still must pay for a team fee.
- Are there any requirements to join the team? (maybe grades, or skills you have to have)
Anyone can join the team! You must have a physical on file that is good through the end of the season (end of October). As for grades, we look at your high school (not middle school) grades from the spring semester, as well as your grades each week while in season. If you have two "F" grades from spring, you must either make up at least one class online or in summer school, or wait until the eligibility regain date to complete. During the season, we look at your grades each week and runners who have two or more "F" grades that week, can still practice, but are unable to run in a meet until grades improve.
- Does only Varsity compete?
Every runner competes at every meet, except for the State Meet where you have to qualify. So both JV and Varsity compete at every meet. Typically there are separate races: Boys Varsity, Girls Varsity, Boys JV, Girls JV and sometimes Open Races if they only allow a smaller number of runners in the JV races.
- Does the team take trips?
We do, however, do team dinners (at athletes houses), Olive Garden run, a pizza night, Spike Night and other team-bonding activities throughout the season.
- What do you need to do to make Varsity?
To make Varsity, you must run in the top seven runners and finishers for our team and only miss up to 3 practices for the season
A Discussion about Running Shoes
OK, there is a lot of mixed information on the subject of running shoes. Cheap vs. expensive. Traditional vs. minimalist (spurred on by the author of Born to Run)
The two most important things in a shoe are fit and type. The shoe must fit well when you run. Running stores can perform an analysis to determine if you need a neutral shoe or otherwise. Several studies suggest that a cheaper shoe that meets both of these requirements may be as good as a more expensive shoe.
Shoes generally last for 300 – 400 miles or running, but that can vary. One of our runners went through some brands of shoes in only about 120 – 150 miles, due to their inability to withstand her “sprinter” running style.
Once you find a shoe that you like, you should probably stick with it (Asics have worked very well for me, where some other brands have not). Some of our runners have had problems when switching to a new shoe of a different brand.
The following stores usually provide superior service to general sporting goods stores (Sports Authority, Big 5, Dicks, etc.) with prices that may actually be lower after the discount.
Please let them know up front that you are running cross country for your high school.
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