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University of Texas at Austin
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Cross Country

Assistant Athletic Director:
Joseph Garmon

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Department Phone:
512-471-5883

Department Fax:
512-471-6589

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Cross Country Manual Regular Season

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Regular Season

Practice Regulations 

Practice Regulations.

Practice Regulations - When School is in Session - Individual Sports 

  • Eight-Hour Practice Rule – School districts shall adopt policies limiting extracurricular activities from the beginning of the school week through the end of the school week (excluding holidays) by limiting practice outside the school day to a maximum of eight hours per school week per activity.

Practice Regulations - OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL YEAR - INDIVIDUAL SPORTS 

Practice regulations for sports that practice outside of the school year are as follows- 

  • The maximum length of any single practice session is three hours. 
  • Student-athletes shall not engage in more than five hours of practice activities on those days during which more than one practice is conducted. 
  • Schools shall not schedule more than one practice on consecutive days and student-athletes shall not participate in multiple practices on consecutive days. Exception: Volleyball. 
  • On days when more than one practice is conducted, there shall be, at a minimum, two hours of rest/recovery time between the end of one practice and the beginning of the next practice.
  • What counts towards practice time? Actual on-court practice, sport specific skill instruction, mandatory conditioning, water breaks and rest breaks.
  • What doesn’t count? Meetings, weight training*, film study, injury treatment and voluntary conditioning. *Cannot be done during the two-hour rest between the two practices.

Sundays. A League participant school shall not participate in any athletic contest or conduct any practice, or teach any plays, formations, or skills on Sunday.

  • Violation. Any showing of films to, or meetings of athletes for the purpose of instructions or reviewing of plays, formations, or skills in any sport will be construed as a violation.
  • Coaches Sunday Meetings. This does not prevent coaches from meeting on Sunday or from viewing films or planning an instructional program, provided that no athletes are involved in this meeting.

Contest Scheduling Rules

Contest Scheduling Rules.

The following section combines State Law, State Board of Education regulations, and UIL rules regarding scheduling and participation in a contest.    

  • One contest per school week: According to State Board of Education mandates, students may only participate on one day per activity during the school week. School districts shall ensure no more than one contest or performance per activity is scheduled per student. 
  • *Exception: Tournaments and post-season competition may be scheduled as an exception to the school week limit. As well, district varsity contests postponed by weather or public disaster, provided that they are rescheduled and played on the next available date, other than Sunday, on which another district match is not scheduled.  Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception.
    • Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception. 
    • District varsity games that are postponed by weather or public disaster, and not played on the next available date, shall be rescheduled and played on a date determined by the District Executive Committee, but may not be made up as an exception to the school week limitation.
  • TEA and Participation: The Texas Education Agency defines participation as being involved with the activity, traveling with the team, or sitting on the bench. Example:  On a Tuesday night, the student’s name is on the scorebook but she remains on the bench and does not actually enter the game.  This counts as participation for TEA but not UIL, this student would not be able to participate again until after school on Friday, per TEA regulations.
  • UIL and Participation: UIL defines participation if a student athlete actually entered the contest as a player. In the example above, the contest does not count as one of the allowable games as determined by UIL policy.

Definitions:

  • Calendar week means 12:01 a.m. on Sunday through midnight on Saturday. 
  • School week means the week beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the first instructional day of a calendar week and ends at the close of instruction on the last instructional day of the calendar week, excluding holidays. 
  • Post-district play means competition in UIL playoff series or contests such as bi-district, area, regional, etc.
Cross Country Regulations

An official starting date and final cross country meet have not been set by the Legislative Council. A starting date should be set by school administration. No student representing a participant school shall participate in more than eight meets during the school year, excluding one district meet, the regional meet and the state meet. Each meet a school team enters counts as one meet for each participating individual. Meets which are limited to three or fewer schools, do not count as a meet for teams or participants, provided there is no loss of school time. 

  • School week: A student or team representing a member school shall participate in no more than one scrimmage, contest, meet or tournament per school week.  School week is defined as beginning at 12:01 am on the first instructional day of a calendar week and ends at the close of instruction on the last instructional day of the calendar week, excluding holidays.

  • It is considered a school meet if a student is wearing a school uniform, using school equipment or transportation or is being directed in the meet by a school coach.

Rules

The cross country rules are available in the current National Federation Track and Field Rules Book and shall be enforced in all UIL meets. The CC rules found in the current NFHS Track & Field/Cross Country rules book shall be enforced at all UIL meets. Rule books can be purchased from the National Federation, Box 361246, Indianapolis, IN 46236-5324; 1-800-776-3462 or www.nfhs.org.

Divisions

There shall be the following divisions in the respective conferences: a) boys; b) girls.

Classifications
  • Districts Meets.  District cross country chairmen shall be responsible for organizing the district cross country meets.
  • Regional and State Meets. There shall be six classifications for regional and state meets: Conference 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, and 6A schools.
Distance
  • Girls’ 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A cross country meet will be approximately two miles (3200 meters).
  • Boys’ cross country and girls' 5A and 6A meet will be approximately three miles (5000 meters).
  • A race of six miles or longer shall not be considered a UIL cross country meet.
Number of Participants

A minimum of five participants and a maximum of seven participants shall constitute a team. The first five finishers on each team will count for the total team score. A school may enter less than five, however, it cannot compete for the team title. 

  • A school may enter only one team of boys and one team of girls in the district, regional or state meet.
  • When determining the number of competitors to be placed in each section, it is important to consider the size of the field, the quality of the performances of the competitors involved and the relationship to risk minimization. A section should not be so large as to create an environment that increases the risk for injury due to the competitors being too crowded and not able to freely run. 
Determining Team Scores

NFHS 8.2.1 Scoring shall be as shown in the following table: 

Place at finish 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th etc.
Points 1 2 3 4 5 etc.

NFHS 8.2.2 All competitors who finish the race shall be ranked and tallied in accordance with the above table. In cross country, up to seven team members retain their order of finish. Any team members beyond seven shall be disregarded and shall not displace any opposing runners. The team score then shall be determined by totaling the points scored by the first five finishers of each team. The team which scores the fewest number of points is the winner. 

NFHS 8.2.3 If fewer than five competitors of a team finish, or other number specified by the games committee, the places of all members of that team shall be disregarded and the team scores re-ranked. 

NFHS 8.2.4 Ties in team scoring shall be resolved by comparing the sixth-place finishers from the tying teams. The team with the best sixth-place finisher shall prevail. If one team does not have a sixth place finisher, the team with a sixth place finisher shall prevail. 

NFHS 8.2.5 If only five competitors of tying teams finish, the team scoring shall be resolved by totaling scores of the first four finishers.

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