VAL Cross Country Rules

NFHS Rules shall be followed with the following modifications:

2. DIVISIONS

2.1 - Athletes shall be allowed to participate in the following divisions:

• 6^th Grade Boys
• 7^th Grade Boys
• 8^th Grade Boys
• 6^th Grade Girls
• 7^th Grade Girls
• 8^th Grade Girls

3. MEETS

3.1 - Races shall start promptly at 4:00pm.

3.2 - A school’s team is allowed unlimited runners in every division with the first 5 runners being counted toward official team scoring.

3.3 - All races prior to league finals shall be longer in distance than the race before it. 

3.4 - Course maps should be emailed and/or available the day of the meet.

• Emailing digital copies of the course map is preferable.

3.5 – Meets will be run in grade order as described in the schedule of meets;

•  The boys division will be run first for each grade with the girls division following 2-3 minutes thereafter.

4. SCORING 

4.1 - Schools who do not host a meet are responsible for the scoring and distribution of results (As shown in the SCHEDULE OF MEETS section).

• Emailing results via email is preferred, though hard copies are acceptable.

4.2 - Each division shall only score the TOP 5 runners from each school.

4.3 - Every runner who finishes a race must stay in the order they finished until their athlete tag has been removed or their name has been recorded at the finisher’s table.

4.4 - In the event of a tie score between two or more teams, the 6^th runner who finishes from the tied teams will be counted toward the scoring to help break the tie.

• (If one team does not have a 6^th runner than the team with at least 6 runners wins the tie)

4.5 - Incomplete Teams (IC) are teams that have fewer than 5 runners that finish a race.

•  (i.e. four 6^th grade girls from one school would be considered an incomplete team)

4.6 - Scoring will be calculated by adding up the places of the first 5 runners on complete teams for each division. The 6^th and 7^th runners shall displace other runners that score for other teams.

4.7 - The winner for each division is decided by the lowest score between all of the complete teams.

4.8 - Runners above the 7^th place finisher for complete teams (i.e. the 8^th and above finisher from a team) shall not displace scorers on other complete teams.

4.9 – Runners on incomplete teams shall displace runners from other complete teams.

4.10 - An incomplete team cannot beat a complete team, but incomplete teams can beat other incomplete teams.

• (i.e. If two incomplete teams have four runners finish, then the lowest total wins. Also, a team of 4 beats a team of three, etc., regardless of places.)

5. RESULTS

5.1 – Each coach/team is responsible for having tags for their own runners.

5.2 - The size of a runners nametag shall be no larger than 1” x 4” inches.

• AVERY- 5961 White Mailing Labels are the preffered label

5.3 - The athletes tag shall include the following:

    LAST NAME,       FIRST NAME        

     SCHOOL         GRADE       GENDER

• It is recommended that the nametags also have a colored stripe of the schools primary color/s. In the case of similar school colors, an alternative color or a small symbol to help differentiate the tag will help with scoring and identifying your schools runners after results have been posted.

5.4 - The minimum distance of a race shall not be less than 1.0 miles

5.5 - Each race prior to league finals shall be longer than it’s previous race.

5.6 - Copies of official results for each race shall be available no later than the following meet.

6. LEAGUE FINALS

6.1 - The VAL finals race shall be no less than 2.0 miles

6.2 - Finishers in the top 10 will get awards immediately at the conclusion of their race

• Places 1-3 will get medals
• Places 4-10 will get ribbons

7. SECTION MEET (SILICON VALLEY CHAMPIONSHIPS)

7.1 - This meet is usually run and organized by the Campbell/Los Gatos section.

7.2 - It is generally contested with the TOP 7 competitors in each division on your team.