what do you think the chances are of HS xc happening in any way shape or form this year?
what do you think the chances are of HS xc happening in any way shape or form this year?
Definitely not happening in California
The optimistic way to look at it is that it will depend on the state you are in. In reality it isn't looking great anywhere since it doesn't look like we have finished the first wave yet and the fall likely will be worse. Our state is punting making any decisions until the governor says more but since it looks like most of our school systems won't be in school they acknowledged it looks unlikely.
I'm pretty sure no big invitationals will happen in California this year. With that being said, my league is planning on doing XC meets with only 2-3 schools attending that can be held with significantly less risk.
It's going to be state dependent. I'm in IL and it's been pretty positive here so far. Probably smaller meets to lower exposure; invitationals will be limited I'm sure... they hope by doing that we can have a state series. There are a ton of rumors going around about staggered starts, flighted meets, etc., but XC is a low risk sport and IMO as someone in healthcare, XC should be allowed as it is. Outdoor transmission is exceptionally low even if kids are closer than this "magical" six feet; kids can wear masks while on the bus if that's a concern.
Many options, but most of them are unnecessary for the sport of XC. Football is a whole other matter.
Manhattan College just canceled. Email came from Centrowitz. They bring on kids from all over US so I guess it was inevitable. Plus their cost layout is probably massive and would had to start by now. Couldn't risk waiting.
I think there will be no big invitational meets. However I think that 5ks on the track are an option. If they are on the track it’s the closest thing to a standardized course that hs runners can use.
ELong1229) wrote:
I think there will be no big invitational meets. However I think that 5ks on the track are an option. If they are on the track it’s the closest thing to a standardized course that hs runners can use.
What would possibly be the point of doing XC on the track? The concern is mass amounts of people in a close area, which would be made worse on a track vs an XC course. Or are you referring to individual time trials on a track? Cause that is also absurd.
Big invitationals and mass starts will not happen. Some PNW high school meets are already preparing to do team starts and race like the team time trial in cycling. A school's varsity 7 runners start together, 10 minute spacing between team starts, add up the times of the top five finishers on each team and team winners determined on lowest cumulative time. Individual rankings based on the individual athlete's time. Another twist, one meet is already implementing a rule that a team can only be on the meet grounds for a designated two hour window and mandatory tent spacing and mask usage outside of the actual competition.
JV may or may not happen. A similar format to above could be offered but, a school can only run a small number of JV athletes. Sadly, a lot of freshman and sophomores may not get to race this season outside of intrasquad events.
In Tennessee, TSSAA said that non contact sports (XC, golf, etc) can start as usual, while football and girls soccer (boys play in spring) can't play until our state wide state of emergency is lifted. Currently that's August 29. Obviously, time will tell if we really can start as usual, but I think big invitationals are off the table. I think it will mostly be small duals or triangulars, but there will be a season in some form. We'll see.
Based on a couple smaller road races I've seen recently, I think people will give up on strict wave starts with long separation between them pretty quickly. Something like this was planned for the races, but in practice, you let your first wave go, and then you've got a hundred people still lined up and the first wave already disappearing in the distance, and it just makes more sense to let people start trickling over the start line a few at a time after a few seconds, not after a few minutes or even ten minutes. You don't need 1.5 miles of separation between runners.
Baseball and softball are high school summer sports in Iowa. They are rolling as usual. Football and cross country practices have officially started. Youth sport are huge. Massive tournaments have taken place. Two high school level track meets have taken place. So of course I don't see sports all of a sudden stopping since they are running.
hhsrunner32 wrote:
what do you think the chances are of HS xc happening in any way shape or form this year?
I would wager it won't be 100% cancelled but that it will look very different in many regards. No big meets probably, possibly experiment with other formats (time trial by team like someone else said seems possible)
My state and school district are already starting summer practices this week
My predictions, though I claim no particular insight...
1. Big multi-state meets won't happen--at least not as they have in the past. I don't expect NXR or NXN to happen this year. Too many states right now are enforcing quarantines on people traveling to other states. Cross country will never sneak through that matrix. Some states will be very slow to release that restriction.
2. At least initially, we'll see races run in wave starts. But the waves will likely start at something like 30-second intervals. Longer intervals are pointless. If things go well with the coronavirus, we might get back to conventional starts before the season is over.
3. There will be variation in what happens with the season from state to state. Some states won't have a season. Others will. One of the biggest points of variation will be between states whose associations do not require athletes to be physically attending the schools and those that do. School attendance, because of the indoor factor, is a far bigger deal than outdoor sports.
4. There will be no changes in scoring, except possibly to include ties in the scoring. Adapting to wave starts will be change enough for most folks. The point is to make the sport as most like it has been as we can, not the least like it has been we can.
5. There will be the occasional facility that balks at hosting a meet at their site. Some meets will have to move.
6. Things will get better nationally before the season really starts. Some states start in August and will be more bellwether kind of states, but the trends are not all that disturbing if we'd all just calm down a little. People largely aren't getting corona outdoors and especially not in situations without intense crowding. And, though infection has been trending upward in some of the hottest states (largely because folks are congregating inside where it's much cooler), hospitalization and deaths have remained much more constant. I'm not saying we're out of all danger here, but the trends are not all that alarming. Not even for an older guy like me. I take far more risk driving my car to work than sharing the outdoor running space with other people.
7. Some of the largest meets probably get broken up, but I imagine most meets of 10 - 20 teams slide by. With wave starts, this kind of meet size simply isn't oppressive.
8. On-site awards gatherings are a relic of the past, except for possibly state. The sport has needed this for a while.
9. Some people are getting all lathered about people passing within a few inches of each other. It's not a problem. I pass close to people almost every day when I'm running. Outdoors isn't indoors.
10. Parents and other spectators will have abide by not crowding the finish line and any other points along the course where people have crushed together in the past. Failure to abide by this restriction is likely to be the single biggest threat to the fall season.