CDH Cross Country
What is Cross Country?
Cross-country is a teamrunning sport. Each scoring team consists of at least 5 members, with 7being the maximum running on the same course at the same time. Thefirst five team members are scored directly by adding their relativeplaces at the finish as compared to the finishers from other scoringteams. The sixth and seventh runners’ times and places are held inreserve in case of a tie. The winning team will be the team whose totalscore is the smallest. A perfect score of 15 is scored when a team hasits first five team members finish in the first five places in therace.
Boys run a course that is 5 KM/3.1 miles long.Girls run a course that is 4 KM/2.5 miles long. Courses are run mostlyon grass (golf courses and parks are most commonly used as sites forraces), and the terrain varies from hilly to flat from course to course.
What do you need to participate in Cross Country?
A positive attitude. Having a positive attitude will help make the workouts seem less like work, keep you on track to achieving your goals, and make even the biggest challenges seem smaller.
A good pair of running shoes. (This does not necessarily mean an expensive pair of running shoes). You can buy shoes from Run N Fun, Marathon Sports, or any of the other running stores around. Most of them will offer a discount for high school runners (Run N Fun hasbeen good to us in the past and is located on Randolph Avenue near Victoria, East of CDH). Some athletes may want to buy a pair of spikesfor the races. These shoes can be purchased at the same stores and are optional. Most of the top varsity and junior varsity runners will have them, but it is up to you.
A watch with a stopwatch. Having a watch with a stopwatch can help you to track yourprogress from week to week. It would also be helpful for some of theworkouts that are run based on timed intervals.
PracticesIn August practices will be held from 7:30 AM until 9:30 AM. Expect to berunning between 20 and 35 miles (total) this first week dependent on your fitness level when the season starts.
When teacher workshops and student orientation starts we will switch to a 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM practice time.
We will be increasing mileage as the weeks progress with maximum mileage reaching around a 50 mile week, which will include a long run of at least 10 miles.
Intensity at practice will vary from easy to hard; with a variety of workouts(Intervals, Repeats, Fartleks,Tempo Runs, Easy Running...). We will be running 95% of the time we are at practice.
MeetsOur first competition will be the second week of the season. Prior to that we will have a race with the Alumni which will give us the opportunity to challenge ourselves and run hard.
Week day meets will be held after school. The majority of them will start at 3:15 PM. All of these meets have opportunities for all the runners on our team. Everyone is encouraged to race.
Weekend meets will be held in the mid-morning or early afternoon. With the exception of the Roy Griak meet all of our athletes can participate in all of these meets. Generally these are larger events with 20 or more teams competing.
Transportation
Transportation via bus will be provided for all the athletes on the team to and from meets. See the schedule for departure times.
GoalsAs individuals and as a team we have accomplished great things, 3 conference championships, numerous all-conference awards, sent athletes to the State Meet, and improved our times and overall fitness. This year will hold the same types of success for us if we start setting our goals now and talking about them. As a team we need to help each other achieve our individual goals which will in turn help us accomplish our team goals.
Awards/LetteringAt the end of the season we will have a banquet at Mancinni’s. There we will celebrate our accomplishments as individuals and as a team.
Individual awards include:
MVP, Most Improved, 110% (elected by the team members),
Athletic Letter (earned by coming to practices and meets, having a positive attitude, supporting your teammates, and giving your best effort to everything you do).
