Parent Info & Forms
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Booster Club
The cross country booster club is a group of parent volunteers who work to organize the various social and fundraising events for the cross country program. The booster club board consists of a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, member at large and coaches. The vice president must plan to take over the president spot the following year. The president and vice president spots alternate between parents from the boys team and parents from the girls team. All parents are encouraged to attend all booster club meetings.
Cross Country yard signs can be purchased through any booster club board member or at various events, such as the Meet the Team Picnic. The cost is usually $10.
The coaches will hold a meeting at the high school and middle school (for rising 8th graders) in late May before the end of the school year. Anyone interested in running cross country should attend this meeting. The coaches will collect athlete information so that the coaches and booster club can be in contact with you throughout the summer. The coaches will discuss the program and hand out information, including a summer workout schedule.
Summer Conditioning
Starting 1-2 weeks after the finish of the school year, the runners will start meeting for summer conditioning practices. They will meet every weekday (and eventually on Saturdays) at 8am. They will warm up and run their miles and usually be done around 9:30-10am. The boys meet by the water station near the practice field on 7th Street. The girls meet across the street on a little triangle of grass between the baseball field and the parking lot. Occasionally, the boys will also meet in the evenings. A schedule that lays out the conditioning schedule will be handed out at the coaches meeting, just prior to the finish of the school year. They should have two pairs of good running shoes and alternate every day, allowing the cushioning in the shoes to recover. They should bring a water bottle and a stop watch to every practice.
PR - Personal Record - your fastest time for a specific distance.
Strides - Gradual acceleration to a sprint, then a deceleration.
Easy Run - Athlete can run at a conversational pace.
Splits - The accumulated time at various intervals during a race, usually each mile, showing an athlete's progress.
Physicals and Medical Forms
All runners must have a valid physical and the following three medical forms turned in by the first day of mandatory practices. The OSHAA Physical Evaluation Form must be taken to the physical and signed by the doctor.
Go to the school website to print updated forms www.northcantonschools.org
Injuries
Athletes should discuss any aches or pains with a member of the coaching staff so that adjustments can be made to their training schedule. Athletes will often be referred to a licensed trainer. Please do not keep the presence of an injury from any member of the coaching staff. Untreated injuries will only get worse.
Mandatory Practices
Mandatory practices will start in the beginning of August. The teams continue to meet at the same times and places as the summer conditioning workouts, but the coaches will be present. Once school starts, these practices will begin at 3pm, immediately following school. Three unexcused absences will result in removal from the team.
Spirit Wear
Each summer, the runners will be able to purchase cross country spirit wear. They will be given an order form and allowed to chose from a variety of items. New female runners are required to purchase a pair of uniform shorts for the meets. These shorts can also be worn for track meets in the spring.
Male athletes are also required to purchase standard black, logo free running shorts for the meets. The booster club, typically, buys all athletes a team t-shirt to be worn as a warm up shirt prior to meets.
Parent Meeting
Each year a short parent meeting is held on a week night in early August. During this meeting the Booster Club president will speak about the upcoming events and request volunteers. The Booster Club treasurer will give a current report. The coaches will speak. Volunteer sign up sheets for various events are also at this meeting.
Meet the Team Picnic
This annual picnic is organized by the Booster Club and is purely a social event for the runners and their families. The dress for the evening is very casual. Each family is asked to donate $1 per person to cover the cost of drinks, hot dogs and hamburgers. The hot dogs and hamburgers are cooked by parent volunteers. Families are also asked to bring either a side dish, salad, or dessert. The coaches will speak and the runners will be introduced. Yard signs will be available at this time for $10.
Volunteer sign up sheets will also be available for any openings that have not yet been filled.
Dunking Booth Fundraiser
The Booster Club operates the dunking booth at the Main Street Festival, held on a Sat and Sun, usually the 3rd weekend in August. The booth is usually located near the front of St. Paul's Church, at Harmon Street. Parents are asked to volunteer for 2 hour shifts to take money, reset the tank and chaperone. Runners are asked to volunteer for 4 hour shifts to bring in business and take turns doing 15 minute rotations in the tank. Hoover Viking Temporary Tattoos will also be sold.
Car Wash Fundraiser
The primary fundraiser for the Booster Club is the car wash. The event is on a Sat morning from 10am - 1pm usually the last weekend in August. Parent volunteers are needed to help with many aspects of the car wash. The runners usually run their time trials in the morning and then they all go work at the car wash. Lunch is provided. Each runner is asked to pre-sell five $10 car wash tickets.
Pasta Parties
Every Thursday, prior to a Saturday meet, a volunteer family will host a pasta party for the runners, boys and girls together. Four or more other families will help the host family to prepare and serve the meals of pasta, rolls, salad, fruit, dessert, and a lot of water. The parties are set up "open house style" and kids will start to wander in around 5pm. Sometimes the kids will eat and then leave, sometimes they will linger around for a while and interact. Many of the host families set up volleyball/soccer nets or some kind of outdoor activity, some will start a bonfire. As it is a school night this year, it would be reasonable to expect students to leave earlier than previous years, around 8pm.
The following documents are helpful for those hosting or helping to host a pasta party.
The last Saturday in August, the runners will all participate in a time trial run on the course at Hoover High School (same one used in the Dave Clegg meet). Parents can feel free to come and watch. The top 9 girls and the top 9 boys will run on the Varsity team at the Dave Clegg Invitational the following week. All other runners will run in the girls or boys JV or open race. The Dave Clegg usually allows the top 9 run on the Varsity team. The Worthington meet allows the top 10 to run on the Varsity team. For all other meets the Varsity team consists of only the top 7 runners. The Varsity teams will change from week to week, depending on which runners ran the fastest times in the previous weeks meet.
The runners will meet at the Stadium parking lot at a predetermined time and load into the buses, which will take them to the meet. They are asked to be there 15 min prior to the time that the buses are leaving. Runners must ride the bus to the meet. Parents are allowed to transport athletes from meets, after both the JV and Varsity races have completed, as long as the athlete has been signed out on the log sheet kept by the coaches at the tent.
Meet Attire
The athletes will run in all types of weather and should prepare to dress for the elements.
The runners will all need a pair of cross country spikes prior to time trial. Cross country spikes are just slightly different from track spikes. The coaches will help them change the length of the spikes for some races, depending upon the conditions of the course, i.e. longer spikes for mud and rough terrain. Spikes can be purchased at Second Sole, where all athletes will receive a 20% discount. Dick's Sporting Goods may also carry a few styles at the beginning of the season.
Girls and boys will wear the team shorts that have been purchased through the spirit wear sales and they will be given a tank style shirt. Shirts must be tucked into the shorts for all races. The boys and girls shirts will be collected at the end of the season. Each school is given a range of uniform numbers.
During colder conditions, they may wear logo-free, tight, black long sleeves or pants underneath the uniform. If you can not find logo-free clothing, you can place a piece of black electrical tape over the logo. All jewelry must be removed. No hard headbands, clips, or pins are allowed. Athletes are expected to wear running watches, but it must be a running type watch and it can not have pacing beeps capabilities.
The top 5 runners of each of the four races, girls JV, girls Varsity, boys JV, and boys Varsity count towards the teams total score. The point values are assigned according to the finishing position of each runner. For example, the 1st runner to cross the finish line, gets assigned 1 point, the 5th runner that crosses the finish line, gets assigned 5 points. The points for each of the top 5 runners on a given team are then added up to make the team score. In the event of a tie, the sixth athlete's places are compared to determine the winner. The team with the lowest overall score wins. It is imporant for the team to finish as close together as possible. For example, a finish of 1,3,4,6 and 83 (a score of 97) will lose to a team finishing 16,17,19,21 and 23 (with a score of 96).
Meets
The meets are on Saturdays. The team rides a bus to the meet and will be found cheering on their teammates or in the vicinity of the team tents during the event. The times and order of races varies from week to week, but primarily consist of 4 races, girls JV, girls Varsity, boys JV, boys Varsity. After the meet, athletes can ride the bus home or can get a ride home with a parent if the parent signs them out at the team tent.
Hoover hosts the Dave Clegg Meet every year, typically on the Saturday or Labor Day weekend. This event is a very large and rewarding undertaking and all parents are asked to volunteer where they can for the event (there are also opportunities to help on the days leading up to the meet).
After the regular season, the team focuses on winning the Stark County title, the Federal League title, and then the varsity teams will continue into Districts, Regionals, and the State Meets.
The Federal League Meet will be the final meet for the JV team. Mandatory practices for the JV runners will also end at that point and JV jerseys will be collected by the coaches. JV runners are welcome to run in a boys/girls open race at the District Meet which follows the scheduled varsity races, but they are not allowed to wear team uniforms (legal reasons).
Districts/Regionals/State
The top 4 or 5 teams and the top 16 runners will advance to Regionals from each District Meet. The top 4 teams and the top 16 runners will advance to the State Meet from each Regional Meet. Our District Meet is typically held at Malone College. Our Regional Meet is typically held at Boardman High School. The number of teams advancing can change just prior to the race, based on the number of teams that have declared entry. The district board can also move teams from one district to another just prior to the race, based on team entries.
The State Meet used to be held at Scioto Downs in Columbus but in 2011 was moved to National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio (just East of Columbus). Teams or individual making it to State will be excused from one day of school to leave the Friday before the Saturday meet. This will allow them time to run the course on Friday, prior to the meet. Awards are given to the top 15 individuals and trophies given to the winning and runner up teams.
The Regional and State Meets are run in Div III, Div II, Div I order. The boys and girls alternate who runs first each year.
For more information regarding the State meet click here
Banquet
The team banquet is typically held in early November. The banquet is held in the evening and both the boys and girls teams are present. Tickets for the banquet are sold in advance. Coaches will hand out earned letters and awards. Seniors will be allowed to make short speeches. Everyone will enjoy dinner and a photo slideshow from the season.
Coaches will hand out a winter conditioning schedule at the end of the season, usually at the banquet. To stay in shape, many of the runners will meet in the school gym after school to run laps on the running track or, weather permitting, run outside, following the guidelines in the coaches conditioning schedule. Many of the cross country runners will also participate in spring track.
Planning to Run in College
If your son or daughter plans to run in college, they will need to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse/Eligibility Center. It is recommended that they create an account and pay the registration fee to be offically registered by fall of their junior year. Transcripts and ACT scores (NCAA Eligibility Center Score Recipient "9999") will also need to be submitted. Click here to read 10 valuable pointers on how to get recruited.
It is also advisable to update your athletes MileSplit page with a photo and listing of awards and accomplishments. Go to www.MileSplit.com type in your child's name and then click on your child's name for more information.
Running experience at a young age is a great advantage and a wonderful way to get a child to enjoy the sport.
North Canton Schools has a 6th Grade Running Club, which offers a wonderful starting environment for young runners.
In addition, our Middle School has a great Cross Country program, which feeds into our High School program.
