Watching a Meet

Preparing to watch a cross country meet 

When you arrive at the meet, you might want to first locate the start and finish, then try to scout central points where you can see as much of the race with as little moving around as possible. However, often you can simply follow the crowd. 

Another important landmark will be our "camp" which will often be marked by our orange cross country flags. Sometimes we just have a tarp on the ground with our gear, and other times we have a pop-up tent. 

Do not expect much attention from your daughter once the team gets to the meet. A former teammate of mine once told his parents something I thought made a lot of sense. It went something like this:

“Talking to me before the meet is like going into the locker room or going out on the court at a basketball game. Please give me some space. It’s nothing against you, I just need to get myself ready to race.” -Hodge

Athletes need time to warm-up on the course, be briefed by me on what to expect and/or on strategies we are going to employ. Mostly though, they need to simply prepare for the race with their teammates mentally, emotionally, and physically. However, regardless of their responsibilities, your athlete should of course still be polite and respectful.

During the race, you can move from point to point along the course to cheer the runners as they pass. Be careful, however, to stay off the course, and out of their way. 

Rules also forbid running alongside a competitor! Please do NOT do this. Thank you. 

At the finish of the race, the runners file through the finish chute. It’s ok to greet them, but you might want to give them a little space and a little time. The runners have other responsibilities after the race as well. I will expect them to jog and cool-down, and when applicable, actively support their teammates who are still racing. Some runners are more spent than others after a race. Typical symptoms of their effort and fatigue are breathlessness, general weakness, rubbery legs, glassy eyes, salivating, and sometimes nausea. To aid recovery, water is the best thing to drink immediately after a race, but the athletes will not likely want you to be pushy about this. 

Expect the possibility of some disappointment (and maybe grouchiness) by your athlete after the race IF our team did not do well, and/or she failed to achieve all of her personal goals. Athletes may need some emotional space afterward from both you and from me. Later on, they will need verbal support or just a listening ear rather than criticism. 

Athletes cannot typically leave right away after their race is over because they need to cool down, cheer on others, help clean-up, etc., unless they have a pressing commitment (band competition, ACT or SAT, multiple tests to study for, etc.). Once a meet is over, plan on signing your athlete out with me on the sign-out sheet, which is often with the boys sign-out sheet, or it's in my "RED BAG" that you are welcome access to get out the "BLUE FOLDER" or my clipboard that has the sign-out sheet in it . 

How Cross Country is Scored 

A cross country meet is scored by each team adding up the places of its top 5 finishers. The low score wins. For example, a team that scores 26 points places ahead of a team that scores 29 points, as follows: 

TK Places: 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 10th. This is a total score of 26

Team "X" Places: 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 8th, and 9th. This is a total score of 29

Important note: A team’s 6th and 7th place finishers can also figure in the scoring if they place ahead of the other teams’ top 5 finishers. When that is the case, they become “pushers” by pushing up their opponents’ scores. Only a team’s 6th and 7th finishers can be “pushers”, regardless of how many of its runners may finish ahead of an opposing team’s top 5 finishers. In some instances, the 6th or 7th runners are key in determining the outcome of a meet.