Are you good enough to compete in Cross Country. These Chesapeake High School students are and they do it well. In addition, they maintain high scholastic averages. Check the number of Scholar Atheletes on the team.

Cross Country running is a very demanding sport. The participants run 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) races over all kinds of terrain and in all kinds of weather. The terrain varies from the relatively flat course at Chesapeake HIgh School to the mountain running course at Hereford High School. The weather varies from the hot humid weather of August to the rainy, mud slogging and sliding of October, to the brisk weather of November.

Cross Country is a team sport. Having the fastest runner in the state doesn't guarantee that you will win a meet. The score is based on the times of the first five runners on a team to complete the race.

Cross country running was a neccesity before the days of airplanes and cars and horses. To name a couple of instances the ancient Greeks and the Incas used runners to carry messages of major importance between towns. (Can you imagine running over the mountains in South America?)

As a competitive sport, cross country running began in England in the early 19th century as a game called "hare and hounds". The "hare" would start out ahead of the "hounds" and drop pieces of paper for the hounds to follow. It continued to be popular in schools but evolved into a national sport in the late 19th century. These races were over defined courses similar to what we have today.

(My thanks to Mary Putnam for the facts she provided.)