Provincial Cross Country Championship

1.      DEADLINE DATES

ONLINE ROSTER must be entered by Friday, SEPTEMBER 29. All junior varsity and varsity athletes must be submitted online, regardless of their participation in the Provincial Championships.  JV and Varsity Athletes must be registered on separate rosters.

ZONE ENTRIES must be in by Thursday, OCTOBER 5. No late entries will be accepted (Early Entries are encouraged and appreciated).  All entries must be submitted by the zone convenor on the spreadsheet provided by the MHSAA.  This spreadsheet will be emailed to all zone convenors in September. Schools and convenors should double check entries as errors may not be corrected at the meet.

2.      FORMAT & RULES

A) ENTRIES: The Zone Convenor(s) must be the only person submitting the team names and individual names to the provincial convenor.  Entries must be sent in on Zone Entry forms provided by the MHSAA.  These forms will be emailed to zone convenors. late and/or incorrect entries may be subject to a fine.

▪Please ensure schools participating in Provincial Championships receive all the information needed.

▪ Please ensure that participants who are representing your zone will attend the Provincial Championship.

▪ Each zone is allowed to enter up to four (4) teams per zone, per category. (Only one (1) team per school, per category, is allowed).  Open entries and team entries will run together.   

B) FORMAT: There will be provincial competitions for cross country in both the Varsity and Junior Varsity categories. All “A-AAA” schools will be scored as one classification, while all “AAAA” schools will be scored as one classification.  

C) RULES: In order to qualify for the junior varsity competition, an athlete must meet the following requirements:         

a) Participating athletes must be under the age of 17 as of midnight of the current school year, August 31.

b) Students are eligible to participate in junior varsity for two years.  In determining the two-year clause, member schools must count grade 9 as the first year.  The athlete's eligibility begins upon enrolment in grade 9 and is allowed two consecutive years of competition from time of enrolment in grade 9.

Team Composition: each school must declare no less than four runners and no more than seven runners.

Open runners which are not included in the team composition may still run and are eligible for the overall open championship.

The Team Champion will be determined by the team which has the lowest accumulated score after adding the placing of the school’s first four runners.                

(e.g.) Cross Country Collegiate

Name          Placing
Jack O        2       Joe. B       11
Tai N           4       John D.     16
TEAM SCORE        33

Important Note: Teams must start the race with at least 4 runners.  If your team finishes with less than 4 runners, a 'phantom' number, which would be equivalent to the number of the last runner in the race, would be assigned to the non-finishing competitor.

Team results will be separated from Open results.  (e.g.)

Overall Sheet            Team Place               Overall Sheet            Team Place

1 Open runner                                             4 Pete Haines                              2

2 Abdul Smith         1                                  5 Joe Johnson                             3

3 Open runner                                            6 Open runner

If two or more teams are tied with identical team scores, the tie will be broken using the finish of the best 4th team runner.

Uniform Rule: Competitors must wear appropriate cross-country attire.  No headgear is allowed, and school uniforms must be worn.  Absolutely No multicoloured t-shirts, slogan t-shirts, multicoloured shorts, or cut off jean shorts will be acceptable for participants to wear.    Tights may be allowed if they have no more than two (2) colours. In the case of inclement weather, clothing adaptations will be announced at the coaches meeting.  

Coaches should be advised that if the uniform rule is not adhered to, the athlete may not be allowed to compete, and the school may be fined between $50-$200.  The school may also be put on probation (probation being that if the school violates the infraction again, the school may be fined $200 and be suspended from all MHSAA activities).

Advertising on uniforms must adhere to guidelines as outlined on pages 136-137.

Schedule: (participants should be prepared to compete 10 minutes ahead of schedule)

                  11:30 am               Coaches meeting                                            

                  12:00 pm              Varsity Boys team and open   5000 m     

                  12:30 pm              JV Boys team and open          4000 m

                  1:00 pm                 Varsity Girls team and open   4000 m

                  1:30 pm                 JV Girls team and open          3000 m

3.      AWARDS

Awards Presentation: All teams are expected to stay for the presentation of the awards. TEAMS WILL BE FINED FOR NOT BEING PRESENT AT THE AWARDS PRESENTATION.

Awards will be presented for two classifications (“A-AAA” and “AAAA”), including each category (JV girls, JV boys, Varsity girls and Varsity boys), The championship teams will receive the Championship banner, first place medals and Championship T-shirts (7).  The runner up teams will receive second place medals (7).  Third place team will receive third place medals (7).  

Individual first place will receive a first-place medal and Championship T-shirt.  The runner up individual will receive a second-place medal. The third-place individual will receive a third place medal.