Most people don't know how Cross Country Meets are scored. Although the number of top runners and a few other things can vary, a typical cross-country race is scored in the following manner.
Each team enters seven runners into the meet. As each runner finishes the race, they are given a number according to what place they finish and that number is their score for the team. For instance, if you finish 1st, you have a score of 1 point. If you finish 18th, you have a score of 18.
A team's first five runners that cross the finish line are counted toward the team's total score. If the team's first five runners come in 1st, 3rd, 4th, 7th, and 9th, then the team's score is 24 (which is relatively low in a competitive race). The goal of cross country teams is to achieve the LOWEST possible score.
But, that's not all. The next two runners (who come in after the first five runners have finished) do not count toward their team's score, but they can still help their team by making another team's score higher. If the seventh runner comes in before one or more of the first five from another team, then the other team's score becomes higher because their runners have bigger finishing scores. Remember, you want your score to be low.
Additionally, if by chance there is a tie score when teams' first five runners places are tallied, the scores of the 6th (and 7th if absolutely necessary) are used to break the tie and determine the final score of the meet.A sweep occurs when the first five runners come in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th giving them the lowest score possible of 15. Cross-Country races can also draw a huge number of participants, holding hundreds of runners.
