West Virginia State Cross Country Championship

Dear Coaches,

We anticipate possible showers for racing on Saturday with temperatures starting in low-to-the mid 40’s and mostly cloudy with 5 mph winds and climbing to mid-50’s by the afternoon with winds increasing to 10 mph.

FRIDAY                    Teams may arrive at 1:30pm and after, but do NOT enter the school grounds between 2:45-3:20pm because school is letting out and traffic is an issue. School grounds are closed to visiting teams at dark.

                                    If you arrive on a bus, do NOT go around the school at the drop off area because that is for Saturday only. If you arrive before school lets out, park over by the stadium. If you arrive after school lets out, park in the student lot. Buses enter on the hill entrance on Friday and not the entrance they enter on Saturday.

Teams may pick up their packet over at the track finish line red building (Must have rooming list & Sportsmanship form in order to receive your packet).

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SATURDAY

Admission:                 Spectators must have purchased a ticket on GoFan.com. Price is $10 for everybody https://gofan.co/event/1161574?schoolId=WVSSAC .  

There are 3 admission gates:

Gate 1:  at roadway crossing near tennis courts leading to the stadium.  

Gate 2: beside gymnasium leading to Tent City.

Gate 3: Behind school at bus loop drop off.

Arrival times:            Gates open at 7:30am. The course will be open for warm-ups the day of the meet, but no warm-ups on the course during a race. The new 4 class schedule leaves less time for warming on race course. Use other school grounds to warm up for your race.

Packet pick up:         Red Building outside track fence. Must have your rooming list and sportsmanship form in order to receive your team packet.

Tent City:                   Tent City is over between the baseball & softball fields & grass area along the school.

Bathrooms:                Located at stadium (bigger), Tent City, & outside gym in the concourse area.

T-shirts:                      Zides will be selling state meet t-shirts & meet programs.

Race Bibs:                  Make sure you have the correct race bib number. A roster sheet with assigned numbers are in your packet. In addition, a label is on the back of each number identifying each runner. If a runner wears the wrong bib number during their race it is an automatic DQ.

Race Procedures:      Starting line procedures will be as follows:

· Teams should report to starting line at least 15 minutes before the start of their race.

· Box assignments will appear on your race packet.

· Runners will go to the tents located near starting line for check in.

· Teams are to stay in their box and do strides directly in front of their box.

· Runners will start on the back yellow line located behind starting line, the starters commands will be; Runners to your Mark (Runners step to the white line), and the gun will be fired.

Finish line procedures will be as follows:

· We will be using Finishlynx timing with race numbers. Runners are to cross the line then head towards the Exit signs. Runners wearing a watch, please DO NOT stop your watch as you cross the finish line because your hands cover your bib number for scoring purposes.

· Parents and coaches must stay outside the track fence. No cutting through in front of brick building. You must go around it to get from one side of the track to the other.  

Awards Ceremony:   The awards ceremony will be in the gymnasium. Athletes in the top 20 and teams that are state champion or state runners up MUST wear apparel that represents your school.   Coaches need to ensure that your runners are dressed appropriately.

                                    Runners finishing in the top 20 meet at the side of the podium as soon as the doors open for the awards ceremony. When looking down at the awards podium, girls meet to the right and boys meet to the left. Runners 1-10 will be paraded out and sit in the chairs at the opposite end of the awards podium. Runners 11-20 will have seating near the podium end off to the sides. We will give instruction to the athletes for this process.

Chris Parsons

(Cabell Midland Assistant Meet Director & Cross Country Coach)