Cross country is back in full swing with meets on the horizon! Having received permission from the City Health Department, the Saint Louis U. High cross country team is now permitted to compete against other XC teams in the Saint Louis region.

Last week, the City Health Department announced new health protocols and guidelines related to sports. These regulations allow for low risk sports to hold interscholastic competition with other high schools in the region. Cross country, falling into the low risk category, has begun to start preparing to race against other competition.

“I am really excited to race as a team this season,” said senior Daniel Hogan. “I initially didn’t think for sure that we would have the opportunity to do so as a team. But the team has put a lot of effort and work in the offseason, and I am excited to show how much stronger our team has gotten in these future races.”

Cross country head coach Joe Porter has already started scheduling meets with other schools in the area. Next Monday, he plans to host a dual meet with Lafayette High School in a location still yet to be determined.

“Following the newly announced guidelines from the city, I immediately started contacting coaches from the other schools to start planning meets,” said Porter. “All the meets that we had in the past had been canceled, so I was basically starting from scratch.”

Most meets will be smaller meets in order to make it easier to accommodate the guidelines set by the city, and meets will be broken down into heats to limit the number of competitors in each race. The number of competitors in each heat will vary from race to race.

Porter still plans to maintain the safety and health procedures that have been happening at practice. The team members will continue to be separated into groups, and these groups will remain separated in order to minimize the risk of spreading the virus across the entire team.  Athletes will also continue to check in and fill out the athletic survey.

“Just because the city has given us permission to race, this doesn’t mean that we should remove our health procedures. In fact, it is even more important for us to adhere to them now that we have a season,” said Porter.

Porter is still unsure whether the team will be able to compete at the District and State meets.

“Right now, the city is only allowing us to race against teams in the St. Louis region. In order for us to compete in those meets, the city is going to have to change its regulations.”

Still, the team is really excited to show off its depth and strength in the meets to come.

“I think that we are deeper than we were last year. We are not returning the fastest individuals like we did last year, but we have depth. I am excited to show that off in the races to come,” said Porter.