Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to sign up for summer conditioning?
We ask everyone to sign up for summer conditioning through a link that will be made available on the girls XC website. The link will be available after the first cross country information meeting that occurs in the first week of June for all prospective athletes. The link will ask for your name, grade, email, phone #, and t-shirt size. We use this information to send out changes in our schedule or cancellations due to weather or heat.
2. What is summer conditioning?
Summer conditioning is a 4 day a week optional (but encouraged!) practice that allows athletes to run with their teammates and coaches during the summer. We encourage everyone to come, even if you have never run a step! We have athletes of all abilities and coaches available to train athletes at any level. In general you can expect to run anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hour long workouts based on your fitness. We also perform stretching, strength drills, and a variety of core workouts to help improve our conditioning. And of course we have popsicles after every practice!
3. Where do we run?
Depending on where we finalize our locations for practices, we will be running from either the High School, Middle School track, or Mill Pond Park. We generally stick to the sidewalks, tracks, or parks for most of our runs. Occasionally we will run down dirt roads or travel to destinations outside of Saline.
4. What is XC Camp?
XC camp is a 4 day, 3 night event that takes place at a campground just outside of Warren Dunes State Park. The kids break up into tent groups and organize their own food, equipment, and travel needs. The camp is run by the captains and a group of volunteer parent chaperones. While at camp the kids do 1-2 running workouts a day, team building activities, and spend time hanging out on the beach and in the water. As we get closer to the camp dates, more information will become available and the captains will hold an informational meeting for all new camp goers.
5. What does the team look like? Do you make cuts?
We usually have anywhere from 80-100 girls on our roster every year! We are one of the largest programs in the state. It’s an awesome group of highly motivated, passionate, intelligent, strong girls that love to work hard together. We love having new members and we DO NOT make cuts. All are welcome. No matter what your ability, we have a place for you. Our varsity group of girls usually run in a group we call Nike. These are girls that will run on one of our varsity squads and typically have run around 22:00 or faster for a 5k. Then we break up the rest of the team into 3 different Brooks groups - Brooks 1 would have our next 20 or so fastest girls, then Brooks 2, and so on. Each group has a specific coach assigned to that group to give individualized training and attention to each athlete.
6. What exactly is cross country?
Cross country is a sport where you compete a varsity squad of 7-10 athletes against other teams varsity squads. The race is 5 Kilometers (or 3.1 miles) and usually takes place at parks or on golf courses. The top 5 athletes from each team score and the lowest score wins. After the varsity race the JV race is held. In the JV race, each team can enter as many athletes as they want and all will race a 5k.