- The team with the lowest score wins.
- Teams face each other head-to-head. If three teams race, each match-up is scored separately.
- The top five finishers of each team score.
- The sum total of the place numbers of the first five runners from a team is its score in a meet. For example, if members of a team place 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 10th, those numbers are added together to give the team a score of 31 points (3+4+6+8+10=31).
- The sixth and seventh finishers of a team can displace the opponent's fifth or higher finishers (see below).
- In the event of a tie, the places of the teams' sixth place runners determine the meet.
- If a team does not finish at least five runners, they forfeit the meet.
If one team has its five runners finish in the top five places, the resulting score for that team will be 15 (1+2+3+4+5=15), which is a perfect score.
In a dual meet, should one team have its seven runners finish in the top seven places—before any of the opponent’s five scorers finish—the resulting score of the meet will be 15-50. The opposition would score 8+9+10+11+12=50. This is a shutout in cross-country. In a dual meet no team can score fewer than 15 points, or more than 50 points.
In a dual meet, if one team takes the top three places, they automatically win, no matter how far back their 4th and 5th runners finish. This is because their score cannot be worse than 1+2+3+11+12 (29), while the other team’s score can be no better than 4+5+6+7+8 (30).
Although the 6th and 7th runners from a team cannot change their own team’s score, they have an important role. By placing before a scoring runner from another team, they cause the opposing team’s score to be higher.
For example:
- Team A’s top five runners finish 1st, 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 11th. Team A’s score = 1+3+6+9+11 = 30.
- Team B’s top five runners finish 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th. Team B’s score = 2+4+5+7+8 = 26. Their sixth runner finishes 10th.
Even though Team B’s sixth runner (10th place) did not directly contribute to Team B’s score as far as points, he contributed to the overall victory. By placing 10th, he caused Team A's fifth place runner to come in 11th, thereby causing Team A to score more points (11 instead of 10). Team B's sixth runner "displaced” Team A’s fifth runner, who, instead of finishing 10th, finished 11th.
The below example shows displacement and a tie-breaker.
Team makeup – A Cross Country team is made of seven runners. The top five runners are the “scoring” members and the remaining two have the important job of displacing the scorers on opposing teams. Only the varsity level is limited to seven competitors in a race, the other levels have unlimited entries.
Levels of competition – There are four levels in most cross country races. Each level competes in its own race and is scored separately. Most invitational races and our league meets use the following levels: Varsity, Junior Varsity, Sophomore, and Freshman. Some invitationals will use a grade-level format. For these types of races, there is no Varsity team. The races are scored independently and sometimes the top five times from each team are compiled to determine an overall winner.
Scoring – Races are scored by assigning a point value for the place a runner finishes in. If a runner finishes first, he/she will earn 1 point. Finishing 55th would earn 55 points. Cross Country is similar to golf in that the lowest score wins. A perfect score is 15 points, with the top five runners occupying the first five finishing positions. Runners who do not have a full team are removed from the results for team scoring. This happens quite often at larger races. Big invitationals and championship races are often won with point totals close to 100.
Race length – Most races are either three miles or five kilometers long. Occasionally a course will measure slightly short or long. Some courses are limited by their geography and the distances are kept consistent from year to year. For example, Mt. Sac is always 2.93 miles. This is the most challenging course of the season, so most runners are thankful to not have to run an extra .07 miles.
XC -- Abbreviated form of Cross Country
Runner -- Someone who runs faster than a jog. We do not jog.
Harrier -- The original name for a cross country runner. We use it to describe true cross country folk.
CIF -- California Interscholastic Federation
NXN -- Nike Cross Nationals
Invitational -- A large race hosted by one or more schools. They provide better competition and larger fields of competitors.
PR -- Personal Record (time)
PB -- Personal Best (time). Used more commonly in Europe.
Aerobic -- Running at a comfortable pace that keeps you in a heart-rate zone of 60-80% of your max.
Anaerobic -- Short, intense running that does not rely on the body's ability to process oxygen.
VO2 Max -- Short work bouts lasting from 3-5 minutes. Usually part of an interval workout.
Threshold -- Refers to aerobic threshold training. Usually running for 15 to 30 minutes at a pace that is one minute slower per mile than your current mile PR.
Intervals -- Segmented running one at varying intensities. Intervals can be any distance, but are most commonly between 200m and 2 miles.
Recovery -- Runs that allow athletes to rest after a hard effort. Theses runs are done by feel and do not have a prescribed pace.
ADAPT -- Average-daily-aerobic-pace training. These runs are done in a controlled setting, usually an 800m loop on grass. Runners are assigned a pace that is typically about 1:30 slower than their mile PR. ADAPT runs place a runner in the upper end of their aerobic zone and require them to stay there for 30-60 minutes.
Surge -- A short burst of speed during a race. Used to change rhythm or break the competition.
Splits -- Times associated with standard checkpoints in a race or workout. Ex: mile splits.
Kick -- The sprint at the end of a race. Runners all have different abilities to kick.
Strides -- Moderately fast runs lasting between 50-200m. The focus is on form during these runs.
Yog -- Jogging at such a slow pace it causes your or your coach to yawn.
Slog -- Jogging in a sluggish fashion that resembles trudging through mud or snow.
The first five runners from each team to cross the finish line receive the points that correspond to their place. The first place runner receives one point, the second place runner two, and so on. The team receiving the lowest score wins.
The sixth and seventh runners on a team, although they don’t receive a score, can also be important, in that they can “displace” scoring runners from the other team. For example, consider the following race:
| 3rd | 1st | |
| 4th | 2nd | |
| 6th | 5th | |
| 7th | 11th | |
| 8th | 12th | |
| (9th) | ||
| (10th) | ||
| 28 | 31 |
In this meet situation, Secaucus wins 28-31.
As you can see, even though our sixth and seventh place runners’ scores were not added into the total, they were enough to displace the Blue Hat fourth and fifth place runners’ scores, and give the win to us. I can’t emphasize again the important role of the #6 and #7 runners!
A score of 27 or less always wins a meet, as does having the first, second and third place winners, with at least five runners finishing. This final instance is called a “sweep”. This only pertains to dual meets.
Invitational or Championship
Your team gets the points for the actual place that you earn when crossing the finsh line. For example if we went 11,18,21,23,34 (36, 40) – our score would be the first five runners = 107
If a school enters less than 5 runners or starts a team and does not finish with 5 runners, their places are displaced. Meaning if a team ahead of our first runner (in the case 11th) was 10th, that 10 points would be awarded to us and the ENTIRE field of runners bump up into new scoring positions.