Congratulations! Your child has joined the Flower Mound High School Cross Country Team.
What is Cross Country?
Cross Country is a team sport that takes place in the fall on an approximate 3 mile course for boys and an approximate 2 mile course for girls.
How is Cross Country Scored?
A Cross Country Meet is scored by adding up the places of a team’s top 5 finishers. Just as in golf, the low score wins. For example, a team that scores 26 points places ahead of a team that scores 29 points. Fifteen points then, is the best possible score for a team (1+2+3+4+5=15).
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Flower Mound |
Centennial |
Flower Mound wins the meet!
Now, the reason we race 7 athletes instead of just 5 is because, if either of our 6th or 7th place runners place in front of our opponents top 5 finishers, they push up our opponents’ score:
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Flower Mound |
Centennial |
As you see above, had Flower Mound not had its 6th and 7th place finishers in front of Centennial’s 5th place finisher we would have lost the meet. But, because they pushed up the score, Flower Mound won the meet. Only a team’s 6th and 7th place finishers can be “pushers” or “displacers” regardless of how many of its finish ahead of an opposing team’s top 5 finishers.