Be the Referee: Cross Country Uniforms
By
Paige Winne
MHSAA Marketing & Social Media Coordinator
September 10, 2024
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment – Cross Country Uniforms - Listen
Today we’re talking roster sizes and uniforms in cross country.
In the regular season, a school can enter a maximum of 12 competitors, and the top seven contribute to the school’s score. In the postseason, schools can enter a max of seven runners, with the top five contributing to the team score.
In the past, all members of a team had to wear identical uniforms. But that’s no longer the case. Now, each runner must wear a uniform that clearly indicates their team through the use of their predominant school colors, school logo, or nickname. They don’t have to be identical – but the school they are representing must be obvious, and it must be clear who your teammates are.
Something to think about the next time you are getting ready to run 3.1 miles.
Previous 2024-25 Editions
Sept. 10: Soccer Handling - Listen
Aug. 24: Football Holding - Listen
PHOTO Newberry's Samantha Taylor (321) and Abby Taylor (320) lead the beginning of the Wildcat Invite last month at Northern Michigan University, with Samantha eventually finishing first and Abby third. (Photo by Cara Kamps.)
Performance of the Week: Sault Ste. Marie's Gabe Litzner
September 6, 2024
Gabe Litzner ♦ Sault Ste. Marie
Junior ♦ Cross Country
Litzner entered this season as the back-to-back Upper Peninsula Division 1 champion, and he's extending his dominance to the Lower Peninsula as well. He's run, and won, two races downstate already this fall including the Aug. 28 East Jordan Invitational, when he finished first among Division 1, 2 and 3 competitors with a time of 15:26.7 – only 1.3 seconds off his winning Finals time from a year ago.
That time also was nearly 53 seconds faster than the field at East Jordan as Sault Ste. Marie finished second in the D1-3 race to Traverse City St. Francis. A week earlier, Litzner won the Birch Run Invitational by nearly 34 seconds against a field that included teams from all four Lower Peninsula divisions. He'll be running later this fall to become the ninth three-time UP Finals champion. He's also the reigning UPD1 track & field champion in the 3,200, where he set the meet record of 9:35.63, and was on the winning 3,200 relay as a freshman.
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️➡️POW: Gabe Litzner #crosscountry #SaultSteMarie #invitational #winner #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA
@mhsaasports 🏃♂️➡️POW: Gabe Litzner #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #greenbaypackers #jordan #cornhole #butterfinger #emoji #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
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Previous 2024-25 honorees
Aug. 30: Grace Slocum, Traverse City St. Francis golf - Report
PHOTOS courtesy of the Sault Ste. Marie athletic department.