Cross Country Team Scoring
A Cross Country meet is scored by adding up the finishing places of the top five finishers for
each team. The team with the lowest score wins. For example, a team that scores 26 points
places ahead of a team that scores 29 points.
Race finish order:
1. Wellesley
2. The Other Guys
3. The Other Guys
4. Wellesley
5. Wellesley
6. Wellesley
7. The Other Guys
8. The Other Guys
9. The Other Guys
10. Wellesley
So the scoring would be:
Wellesley
The Other Guys
Finish place, runner 1
1
2
Finish place, runner 2
4
3
Finish place, runner 3
5
7
Finish place, runner 4
6
8
Finish place, runner 5
10
9
Total score, FIVE runners
26
29
Wellesley Wins!
Although the 6th and 7th runners of a team to finish do not score points toward their team’s
total, their place, if better than those of any of the first five of an opposing team, serve to
increase the team score of the opponents. When it occurs, this situation is called displacement.
Only a team’s 6th and 7th finishers can ‘displace’, regardless of whether additional runners, such
as the 8th or 9th runners, may finish ahead of an opponent’s top five finishers. In this example,
you can see how critical a team’s 6th and 7th runners can be in determining the outcome.
Race finish order:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Wellesley
The Other Guys
The Other Guys
Wellesley
The Other Guys
Wellesley
7. The Other Guys
8. Wellesley
9. Wellesley
10. Wellesley
11. Wellesley
12. The Other Guys
13. The Other Guys
14. The Other Guys
So the scoring would be:
Wellesley
The Other Guys
Finish place, runner 1
1
2
Finish place, runner 2
4
3
Finish place, runner 3
6
5
Finish place, runner 4
8
7
Finish place, runner 5
9
12
Finish place, runner 6
10
13
Finish place, runner 7
11
14
Total score, FIVE runners
28
29
Wellesley Wins!
In an invitational, a tie in team scoring is resolved by comparing the 6th place finishers from the
tying teams. The team with the lowest scoring (faster) 6th place finisher wins.
Here is an example based on the 2016 MIAA Eastern Division 2 Girls Championship:
Woburn
Wellesley
Billerica
Finish place, runner 1
9
6
16
Finish place, runner 2
11
18
19
Finish place, runner 3
13
28
23
Finish place, runner 4
14
29
27
Finish place, runner 5
39
37
33
Finish place, runner 6
50
41
42
Finish place, runner 7
78
47
65
Total score, FIVE runners
86
118
118
41
42
th
Tiebreaker, 6 runner
In this instance, official race results show that judges used the place finish of both the 6 th and
7th runners combined (Wellesley 41+47, Billerica 42 + 65) to resolve the tie, but the outcome
would be the same regardless of method used. Again, a team’s 6th and 7th runners can make a
difference!
If one team does not have a 6th place finisher, the team with the 6th place finisher wins. If both
teams that tied only have five runners competing, the tie is resolved by totaling the scores of
the first four finishers.