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2026 Cedar Falls Cross Country
Welcome to the 2026 cross country season! The coaching staff is looking forward to helping each athlete set goals, compete, and reach their potential. The coaching staff emphasizes working towards the best team, which means having a strong 9/10, JV, and varsity program. Individual progress of each athlete will allow us to meet that objective.
Academics
Academics are always the top priority. Coaches expect athletes to seek out help if grades are starting to become an issue. Students can work with a teacher before school, during tiger time, and after school. We would like to keep athletes at practice if at all possible, even if they show up late. Getting help after school is not an excuse to miss all of practice.
Good conduct/Physical/Concussion
Athletes must have a current physical on file in Bound to practice and compete.
Physicals have a 30-day grace period. If you are unsure of the expiration on last year's physical, email coach Egan to get that checked. Upload the old physical in Bound and replace it with the new physical when it is completed.
Communication
With a large team, communication will be vital throughout the entire season. Parents can email coaches for absences that are known ahead of time (Doctor appts, trips, etc.), but coaches would like to see athletes take responsibility for communicating absences. Email or GroupMe is preferred communication for absences.
GroupMe: Athletes will receive updates through GroupMe about any changes to practice (due to heat, weather, etc). The same updates will be communicated through email to parents. Athletes have been instructed to use GroupMe appropriately and avoid posting after 9 PM if possible.
Each week, you will receive an email with information about team meal location, meet location, schedule of races, results, and the course map.
Practice
Normal practice time will be from 3:30 - 5:30 PM. For the first week, practice will run from 4 - 6 PM due to a band practice conflict. Practices on Monday and Thursday will be closer to 5:30 PM as these are workout days. Saturday long runs will be at 7 AM from Pfeiffer Park or another location that is communicated. Similar to the summer, if you are out of town on the weekend, we hope athletes will prioritize completing their Saturday run on their own. Athletes on a lower mileage plan may not have a Saturday run.
Buses will transport Peet and Holmes students to the high school. Athletes who drive are able to arrive at the high school on their own.
Athletes select their mileage plan for the season. The coaches will group athletes by similar abilities for workouts. Athletes are provided workouts that meet their conditioning and previous workload. We train as a team.
Practice attendance
Attendance is taken at each practice. Attendance policy will start the first week of practice on August 11.
After one unexcused absence, the athlete will miss the next meet.
After two unexcused absences, a conference with a parent will be held about the athlete’s involvement with the team.
After three unexcused absences, the athlete will be removed from the team.
The biggest component for attendance is communication.
Travel Meet Time Requirement
Athletes need to meet ONE of the following two requirements to attend away meets:
Improve by 5% from the previous season's 3200 time trial.
Run at or faster than 13:00 in the 3200 time trial in August.
Freshmen and new team members will not have a time trial requirement for their first season. Returning members who did not participate in the time trial last year will use a converted time from their first meet of the 2025 season.
*Athletes can have multiple attempts at time trials to meet the required time standard/improvement*
Running shoes & spikes
Please make sure running shoes are in good condition, which can help athletes avoid injuries over the course of the season. If athletes ran through the summer and use those shoes for other activities, it may be time for a new pair. Scott and Sarah Gall at the Runner’s Flat are great resources for identifying if athletes may benefit from a different shoe for their next purchase.
The Runner's Flat offers an athlete discount for trainers and spikes.
Uniforms
Uniform tops are school issued.
Athletes can check out shorts, purchase their own from the team order, or wear their own solid black running shorts.
Athletes will be charged for damage to uniforms.
Meet Expectations
The majority of the team will compete at all the regular season meets through the conference meet. The state qualifying and state meet are the only meets that will be varsity only, which is our top 7 runners. Most meets have a 9/10 race, JV race, and varsity race.
Generally, any freshman or sophomore who is not racing in the varsity division will compete in the 9/10 division. Any junior or senior who is not competing in the varsity division will compete in the JV division. If a meet only has a JV and varsity race (Rich Engle and Wartburg), the freshman and sophomores will compete in the JV division. There are situations where a 9/10 runner could run in the JV race and those will be communicated directly to the individual athlete.
Runners will complete the warm up and cool down with the team. Runners will cheer on their teammates before and after their race. Runners are expected to stay through the entire meet, even after they compete.
Coaches understand there are unique situations and we will adjust to those schedule conflicts.
Meet Food & Snacks
Once again, the team would like to provide sports drink, water, and snacks at meets.
All freshman, sophomore, and juniors:
Bring one or two 8-packs of a sports drink (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) in your athletes preferred flavor.
Bring one or two of your athletes preferred snack. Some examples would be granola bars, peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks, pop-tarts (quick sugar before race), etc. Please make sure these are in individual servings.
All seniors:
Bring one or two 24-pack of bottled water
Bring one or two of your athletes preferred snack. Some examples would be granola bars, peanut butter crackers, fruit snacks (quick sugar before race), etc. Please make sure these are in individual servings.
We are asking for these donations to be brought to the parent meeting or during the first two weeks of practice prior to school starting. Athletes and coaches will load the drinks and snacks before each meet.
Athletes should pack food to eat prior to their race, typically 2-4 hours before. Peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars, and bananas are some common foods for runners to eat before races. Commonly, dairy products are not recommended in the hours leading up to a race.
For away meets on weekdays (Marshalltown, Dubuque, Super Meet), we will offer a Jimmy John's order. Athletes will receive a link through their school email if they would like to order. Please add your runner's name to the order. Athletes can order chips/cookie but no drinks! If ordering a sandwich through the team order, those will be available at the END of the meet.
Team Meals
Once again, we are planning to hold team meals during the week of a competition. We will need parent volunteers to make this happen. The team meals are a favorite of the athletes. There will be a signup for hosting and bringing food to meals. Thank you for sharing your talents and time to make these a reality for such a large team.
Varsity lettering requirements
4-year participant in cross country
A runner averages in the top 30 percent of varsity finishers through the regular season meets. Regardless of which race they compete in (9/10, JV, or varsity) an athlete’s time is put into the varsity race to see what place they would have earned. This system allows more runners to earn a varsity letter with such a large and competitive team.
Runners must compete in all meets to be eligible for a varsity letter unless an absence is excused (illness, family reason, injury)
Important Dates
Aug. ??: Parent meeting Virtual
Send Coach Egan an email at brett.egan@cfschools.org if you need the link.
Aug. 10-14: Practice from 4-6:00 PM at the high school track
Aug. 17-20: Practice from 3:30-5:30
Aug. 19: Fall Sports Kickoff
Aug. 21: Two-mile time trial at 7:00 PM, weather permitting, at the high school.
Aug. 29: Meet #1 @ Prairie
Sept. 5: Meet #2 @ Linn-Mar
Sept. 10: Meet #3 @ Marshalltown
Sept. 15: Meet #4 @ Cedar Falls
Sept. 19: Meet #5 @ Roy Griak (Up to 10 athletes competing)
Sept. 24: Meet #6 @ Dubuque
Oct. 3: Meet #7 @ Wartburg (9/10 + JV)
Oct. 8: Meet #8 @ Waterloo
Oct. 15: Meet #9 @ Linn-Mar
Oct. 21: State Qualifier @ TBD (Varsity only)
Oct. 31: State @ Fort Dodge (Varsity only)
Nov. 8: NXR @ Sioux Falls (Any athlete interested can compete)
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