Cross Country

Where to get Information

Remind

updates by text

Ahletes Text "@eburg23" to 81010

Parents text "@eburgxc23" to 81010

Athletic.net

Race Calendar and Results

All athletes attend all meets except Oct 14 Lewis & Clark and Nov 4 state

Slack

Parent Volunteer Chats

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Website

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Congratulations on a great 2023 Season!

November 27th is Ellensburg Boys Cross Country Day in Kittitas County. Video of the proclamation from Mrs. Holmgren :-)

Slideshow. Thanks Coach Jo-Jo!
White Pass Camp Sign Up is open. Click Here. Ellensburg goes to WEEK 1. Wait list only at this time, but chances are good you will get in.
Pics of all meets from Jared Ellensburg Pics: Todd's photos Thanks Todd & Jared!
Split folder- see your times for each mile of each race!
Watch Guide- Thanks Josh Aubol

Cross Country is for You!

Cross Country running is an exciting fall sport at the high school. A cross country race is usually 3 miles and occurs on grass and trails. You should consider cross country for your fall sport because:

• No one sits on the bench. All athletes get to race each race. You don’t have to be a superstar to get playing time in cross country.

• You will feel good about yourself as you improve! No matter what your current fitness, you will see improvement in yourself through the season.

• You will meet friendly people. All athletes, varsity and junior varsity, boys, and girls, practice together (although some run farther). By the time school starts you will have new friends in all classes from freshmen to senior.

• And of course… cross country is FUN.

Don’t worry if you’ve never run before. Many of our varsity runners did not enjoy running until they joined the cross country team.

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

Character- Ellensburg cross country runners do their best is 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, 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.

Questions: Contact Coach Hashimoto @ 933-1409 or jeff.hashimoto@esd401.org

Cross Country Corner

Team Philosophy

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

Character- Ellensburg cross country runners do their best is 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, 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.

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.
Team members need to do their best in all parts of practice, including attention at team meetings, participation in all team activities and training.
Team members strive to live the ideals of CHARACTER, COMMITMENT AND COMMUNITY described above.
Team members need to be trustworthy. Because we go for runs off campus it is essential that coaches can depend on athletes to behave safely and appropriately, and to stay on the routes designated by the coaches.
Team members need to follow Ellensburg High School rules and policies, and be succeeding at their academic work.
The first unexcused absence will result in missing the next meet. Athletes may be removed from the team after their second unexcused absence from practice or meets (starting first day of school).
Athletes who are not meeting the above requirements will be given a deadline to change their behavior or be removed from the team.

Varsity Letter Requirements

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.

Air Quality Information

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.

Meets we attend

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

Cross Country Scoring

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. Lowest score wins.

Example of scoring: First 5 runners on a single team are added together. Place = # of Points.
Team A (Maroon)     Team B (Gold)
Runner #1    2nd place     1st place
Runner #2    4th place    3rd place
Runner #3    6th place    5th place
Runner #4    7th place    9th place
Runner #5    8th place    11th place
27 points    29 points

Runner #6    10th place    13th place
Runner #7    12th place    14th place

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.