How to Score a Cross Country Meet
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:
Sample Dual Meet:
Woburn Lexington
3rd 1st
4th 2nd
6th 5th
7th 9th
8th 12th
(10th)
(11th)
Final Score: 28 29
In this meet situation, Woburn wins 28-29.
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 Lexington fifth place runner's score, 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.
If both teams score 28 points, the team whose 6th runner finished first wins the meet.
Invitational or Championship Meet:
Your team gets the points for the actual place that you earn when crossing the finish line. For example if we went 9, 11, 13, 14, 39 (50, 78) – our score would be the first five runners = 86
Note: 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.
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:
Sample Dual Meet:
Woburn Lexington
3rd 1st
4th 2nd
6th 5th
7th 9th
8th 12th
(10th)
(11th)
Final Score: 28 29
In this meet situation, Woburn wins 28-29.
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 Lexington fifth place runner's score, 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.
If both teams score 28 points, the team whose 6th runner finished first wins the meet.
Invitational or Championship Meet:
Your team gets the points for the actual place that you earn when crossing the finish line. For example if we went 9, 11, 13, 14, 39 (50, 78) – our score would be the first five runners = 86
Note: 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.