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Cross country dates back to the turn of the 20th century as an Olympic Sport when it was contested as a team and individual event at the 1904, 1912, 1920 and 1924 Summer Games. The Olympic spirit is still alive in the sport today as thousands of youth athletes compete throughout the fall in USATF's Junior Olympic Cross Country program.
The Junior Olympic Cross Country program culminates each December when more than 3,000 youth cross country runners hit the course to compete in the USATF National Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. Entry for the national championship is based on athlete performances at preliminary, Association, and Regional levels.
     
   Our program is designed to introduce kids to cross country running by providing an experience that is fun, competitive, social, and informative about the sport. Cross country is a fall/winter sport, with our youth practices starting each year in September. The athlete will participate in the age group determined by the athlete’s age as of December 31, 2012.
The age-group classifications for the competition year 2012 are as follows:
Cross country races are trail runs across several types of terrain at distances of:
Cross country meets are a team event. Points are awarded to the individual runners of eligible teams equal to the position in which they cross the finish line -- first place gets 1 point, second place gets 2 points, and so on. Teams are considered ineligible to score if they have fewer than the meet's required number of scorers, which is typically five. Only the first five finishers for a team are counted towards that team's score; the points for these runners are summed, and the teams are ranked based on the total, with the lowest total being the best.
Practice is held Tuesday and Thursday at various locations. Meets are typically held on Saturday morning, though some practice meets are held on Sunday.
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Cross Country |