Ellensburg Cross Country emphasizes the three C’s of cross country:

Character- Ellensburg cross-country runners do their best in all areas of their lives. They are honest and dependable. They are confident yet humble and display good sportsmanship. They demonstrate good character even when no one is looking.
Commitment- Ellensburg cross-country runners give their best effort consistently over time. They know that the process of striving for excellence is what gives running meaning. They live a lifestyle conducive to high performance: good nutrition, sleep, and avoiding alcohol and drugs.
Community- Ellensburg cross-country runners create a unique team identity where everyone is welcome and no hazing occurs. Runners do not say “no” when other athletes ask to be included. Ellensburg cross country contributes to the broader Ellensburg community through service.

Attendance Expectations: 
Team members are required to attend all practices on time and to race at all meets.  Absences from practice are excused for the same reasons as absences from school, such as illness.  An email or remind message (just reply to any remind message) from the PARENT/GUARDIAN IN ADVANCE is best.  A written note is also acceptable.

• Absences may NOT be excused for: homework, club meetings, drivers ed, job, or club sports. 
• Absences may be excused for family travel or fair commitments before the first day of school.
• Athletes should be on time. 3 tardies count as an unexcused absence. Working with a teacher on academic work is an excused tardy- bring a note from the teacher.

Behavior Expectations: Students should demonstrate the 3 C’s at practice by:

• Character
  • Respectful
  • Paying Attention
  • Positive
• Commitment
  • Present and on time
  • Give Best Effort, following directions
  • No delaying, time wasting at practice
  • Ready to train and race with equipment, food, water
• Community
  • Kind
  • Inclusive
  • No bullying/cyberbullying
  • Make effort to learn everyone’s name, cheer for all

I want you to be surrounded by committed teammates. I want the coaches' energy to be directed to committed athletes. Therefore, we will have a 3 strikes policy on absences and behavior. (Verbal warning, written/email warning, removal from team). Steps may be skipped for serious infractions.

To earn a letter a runner must:

1. Run as a varsity runner at a race.
   –or–
   Race one race faster than 6:10/mi boys or 7:20/mi girls for a 3-mile or 5k race.
2. Participate fully in team activities throughout the season including at least one service project (Cascade Crest, Trail work)
3. Coaches may award a varsity letter to individuals who make extraordinary contributions to the cross-country team.

We are scrutinizing air quality data to keep athletes safe. We are watching wind patterns as well. There are many sources of information about air quality- much more than during the wildfires of 2012- to allow us to predict conditions:

We follow recommendations of the July 2023 Washington Children and Youth Activities Guide for Air Quality

Washington Smoke Information gives regional smoke information and forecasts. There is a slider on the map to give forecasts.
Finally, we are looking into using equipment to take air quality measurements AT PRACTICE. This will of course give us up to the minute information.

Portable Monitor. We have a lab-grade handheld air quality monitor that we can use to assess conditions at the time and place of our running.

BOTTOM LINE: WE ARE SPENDING A LOT OF TIME LOOKING AT CONDITIONS AND TRYING TO KEEP ATHLETES SAFE. We may have athletes train outdoors when conditions are unhealthy for sensitive groups but will limit intensity. We WILL train when conditions are Moderate. Any athlete with a medical condition like asthma should talk with a coach about training during moderate or Unhealthy for Sensitive Group conditions. We will use the most up-to-the-minute data and so sometimes might run outside when the state map still shows an unhealthy red dot if we have data to indicate conditions are significantly better.
If conditions are poor, our options include training indoors at the high school or busing to other locations.

All athletes race in all meets except state. You can view our meet schedule and race results on our athletic page.

We attend 4 types of meets:

Jamboree (Ellensburg Invitational Relays). A Jamboree is a shorter distance race in the early season. Our jamboree is a relay where teams can win awards. Jamborees do not have school scoring.

Invitational- Invitationals are usually Saturday races that feature teams from all over the state or even from other states. Invitationals often have many divisions, often with multiple varsity races and multiple JV races.  Some invitationals, like Hole in the Wall, feature over 100 teams and over 2000 runners from several states.

League Meets- League meets are on Thursdays and feature schools from the CWAC. We run JV and Varsity together in most league meets. The CWAC preview will have a separate JV race. The league meets are our “regular season” and determine a district champion. League meets are scored as dual meets, meaning each team is scored against each team as if the other teams were not there. If teams see each other at multiple league meets, the last league meet is the one that counts.

District Meet- The district championship is held at Apple Ridge and is co-hosted by Ellensburg and Selah. The varsity race at districts is the state qualifying meet. The top teams and individuals not on those teams qualify to race at state. The number of teams that qualify to state is calculated every 2 years. There is a JV race at districts so all runners will race that day.

State Meet- This is the state championship, held at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco.  Each division in Washington races in its own race on this day.  State is the ultimate goal for many high school runners. A team may bring 7 runners plus 2 alternates.

A “scoring team” consists of 7 runners. The first 5 runners from each team count in the team scoring, while the 6 and 7 runners are not scored but affect the score of other teams. The lowest score wins.

Example of scoring: The first 5 runners on a single team are added together. Place = # of Points.
 

In this example, Team A wins. Team A's 6th runner added points to Team B.

In case of a tie, the team with the highest-placed #6 runner wins.