After 5000 meters, a permanent finish line welcomes competitors at the Lubbock Christian University cross country course.
For years, the only team national championship of high
school cross country has been held in Portland, Oregon. That's about to change.
This fall, the small schools will have an opportunity to compete in their own
national championship of cross country.
Lubbock Sports (Lubbock, Texas) will be hosting the inaugural
national championship for small-school high school cross country on November 20
of this year.
Small schools are defined as schools with less than
1000 students in enrollment. 8th graders may compete if their state
association allows them to complete but will result in a 1.25 multiplier being
applied to the school enrollment. Enrollments used will be the same as used to
assign school to classifications in their respective states. Only athletes
fully eligible to compete in their home states through the entire season will
be allowed to represent their teams.
Teams will be required to organize and compete under club,
not school, names.
There will be at least one division, but the meet will
likely divide into two divisions-one for larger small schools and one for
smaller. The meet will also include open races for athletes beyond the usual
scoring seven from each school.
The meet will be held on the cross country course at Lubbock
Christian University. The course is a championship-quality course, having
already hosted multiple high school and collegiate championship meets. The
start line and first several hundred meters easily accommodate 300 competitors.
The overwhelming majority of the course is Bermuda grass, with no hard surface.
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During the COVID year of 2020, the Lubbock Christian course
hosted a smaller postseason high school cross country meet (LINK)
that became the springboard for the planning for a national championship meet.
Teams will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lubbock is a city of approximately 250,000 with a large number of available
hotel rooms, both in the host city and in surrounding communities. Lubbock has
an airport with commercial flights from a variety of locations. More expansive
air transportation opportunities may be accessed through the Dallas-Ft. Worth
airport.
Registration has not yet opened for the event, but watch the
meet page on MileSplit (LINK)
for further information.
After 5000 meters, a permanent finish line welcomes competitors at the Lubbock Christian University cross country course.
For years, the only team national championship of high
school cross country has been held in Portland, Oregon. That's about to change.
This fall, the small schools will have an opportunity to compete in their own
national championship of cross country.
