How Cross Country Works

• Schools compete against one another to post the lowest team score. A full scoring lineup for a team consists of seven runners. The top five runners score team points, with runners six and seven serving as "displacers". A team with fewer than five runners cannot factor into the team scoring.

• Each team with five or more runners earn points for their teams based on their individual finishes; the better the finish, the fewer points an individual earns. Runners from teams that do not finish five or more runners are removed from the scoring equation, with the next eligible runner moving up to claim those team points.

(Ex. The winner and third-place finisher in a race hail from teams with five or more runners, but the runner-up does not. In this situation, the winner would earn one team point and the runner-up would be removed from the scoring, meaning the third-place finisher would earn two points as the next team-scoring-eligible runner in the standings).

• Team scores are comprised of the total points accumulated by a team's first five runners. The team with the lowest score wins.

• Runners six and seven also figure into the scoring by occupying scoring positions that, while they do not count toward their team's score, prevent other teams from earning that extra point. Any runner for a team beyond its seventh is removed from the team scoring.

(Ex. A team's sixth and seventh runners finish 15th and 16th in a race overall, with an opposing team's fifth runner taking 17th right behind them. In this situation, the sixth and seventh runners are not removed from the scoring would occupy the scoring positions for 15 points and 16 points, though those totals will not count toward their team score. Instead of earning 15 points as the next-best scorer in the field, the opposing team's fifth runner instead earns 17 points. While the sixth and seventh runners did not contribute to making their team's score lower, they have contributed to the team effort by essentially adding two points to every other finisher behind them).

• When two teams have identical scores, ties are broken by each teams sixth runners.  The team with the highest placing sixth runner is declared the winner.