Cross country (XC) occurs in the fall and is open to all 4th–8th grade students.

2024 AL Girls and Boys Cross Country – Honor, Team, Tradition, Family 

1-2-We! Calling all incoming 4th-8th graders!  Register now for the AL 2024 Middle School Cross Country (XC) Team and 4th-5th XC Team to run and have fun! Last year we had 95% of our 73 MS runners achieve a PR (personal record) by the end of the season. Kids achieving goals matters! In addition, our MS Girls will be trying for a 4-peat at the State Championships and the MS Boys, a 3-peat! Very exciting!  Both teams are undefeated in City Championships since 2015 with 8 titles each! We average 75 MS kids and 50 4th and 5th graders on our teams each year!

Don’t think XC running is for you?  Give us one month of “try”; we promise it will be worth it!

• All skill levels welcome. No tryouts!
• Actively seeking diversity
• Excellent conditioning for other sports
• Must have positive attitude and bit of grit
• Leadership opportunities

8th graders this is your last chance to experience the joy of XC (we’ve never had anyone regret it)!

Playing AL MS Boys Soccer or AL MS Girls Volleyball? No problem. We are working together to coordinate practices. We also have a long tradition of many of our best runners also playing Club Soccer! We work to figure it out! Last minute vacationing and will start late? That’s totally fine, just GET REGISTERED BELOW!

Philosophy

While we have our fair share of success, our primary focus is the growth and development of each individual runner into a self-confident, more resilient, and positive person. We want to provide a FUN, safe place for our student-athletes to set and reach personal goals, build leadership skills and hopefully gain a love of running that will stick for life.  Most importantly we want them to feel the TEAM BOND that is at the heart of Cross Country.

For more information…

View our Live XC Calendar (below) for our full practice /meet schedule and locations and reference our Helpful Documents Section (at right) to access home workouts, check our school records, team history and achievements, see pictures, get inspired…

Primary Practice Requirements

PRIMARY REQUIREMENTS for MS: water bottle, basic running watch with stopwatch function ($15 at sporting goods stores, Walmart, Target), and running shoes. If you need assistance with any of these, contact Head Coach, Brenda Hayes Kumm.

Practices

MS Pre-Season Conditioning will officially start Monday, July 29 and will meet daily (M-F) from 7:15 am to 8:30 am (unless otherwise stated) until school starts at varying locations (to keep it FUN).  Always check our XC calendar! Once school starts, we will practice right after school 4:00 pm to 5:15 pm M-W-F. We need to be race ready by the first week of September! Race distances range from 1.0 to 2.0 miles.

MS runners must attend as many practices as possible to help ensure safe conditioning and heat acclimation. Logging home/vacation runs will count- we will send out logging options once you register. We highly recommend starting to run now on your own (with fam or friends) to prepare for July 29th.

4th-5th XC Team weekly practices will start Tuesday, August 20, and will meet on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 5:15 pm to 6:15 pm at varying locations.  Check the calendar! Meet info to come. We will be asking for parent volunteers to help wrangle kids. Coach Jared Barber will be the primary coach.

Download all required waiver and medical forms from the Main Athletics page on the AL Website. ONLY our MS runners must have a MSHSAA sport physical form completed before competing. Deadline is Friday, September 6. The sport physical form is good for 2 years. Incoming 8th graders would need a new one if they initially got it in the 6th grade.

Search Facebook and ask to join the “Unofficial AL XC/Track & Field”. It is a closed group for safety reasons. 

Registration is now open until Friday, August 16!