HS Cross Country Course Design ?

I used to see 2 lap courses all the time. I'm not sure I've ever seen a 3 lap course. It won't be ideal and it may not be everyone's favorite course but like you said it's usable. Are all 3 laps identical? You could try and switch directions? Or maybe 3 identical loops would be interesting for analyzing splits. Either way I think it will be fine especially if you make up for with a well organized meet and have plenty of parking as you already indicated.

Option 2: make it an early season 2 mile race. The course will be less repetitive. However, this is more uncommon where I am from and you may lose a few teams here.

My home course was a combination of 2 different half mile loops + a 200m spur. Just have to mix it up a bit and it's not so repetitive.

OP, take a queue from those who design those compact motocross courses. If this plot of land is unencumbered by vegetation (trees, brush, etc.), you could design a course with tightly-packed ess-curves (banked, of course!) and side-by-side straightaways. You]d be amazed how much distance you can fit into a compacted plot of land.

A three-lap course isn't bad at all. Now in college most courses aren't that way but one course I ran in HS was eight laps around a lake, followed by a finishing stretch winding around trees. 😡

I'm pretty sure if it takes 8 laps to run a 5K, it's not a lake. That would be a pond.

Can you cut diagonally across and then switch directions or cut in somewhere? I've seen three lap courses, and they're not too bad, just a suggestion to mix it up. There are some courses that I can't believe they manage to squeeze a 5k in them!

Yeah I guess that makes sense

For small space check out Northview church XC Course in Carmel, IN as a model. Looped course and also marked for various race distances.

http://www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=124295

Course map does / picture not do it justice, as it has nice rolling hills and more trees and foliage now.

Big high school invitational called Flash Rock in mid-September there. Also I think Butler University runs there.