The Great American Cross Country Festival is a school-to-school competitive cross-country running event. High School teams are admitted by Invitation only. High school teams MUST be a member of their state high school association. In 2008, Invitations will be extended to approximately 400 schools. Invitations will be extended to schools that contribute to the goals of the Festival and meet the selection criteria as outlined below. Any high school team that seeks to be considered for participation in the event must complete the Team Registration page.

Please choose one of the following for more details:

Festival Goals
Great American Principles
Entry Process Overview
Selection Criteria
Expression of Interest
Invitations
Entry Deadline
Non-Invited Teams
Clarification Of Policy For Non-Invited Teams
Final Participants
Final Teams Rosters
Individuals
Sanctions
Non-Member Schools
Significance of Great American
Travel
Awards Individual Student Athlete Participants
Entry Fees
Non-Profit Corporation
Questions

Festival Goals

Great American has the goals to provide:

1. High school cross country teams an opportunity to experience the pageantry, competition, spectator interest, and media attention of a major sporting event;
2. High level team competition and athletic excellence;
3. Learning and educational opportunities for teams, athletes and coaches; and
4. Opportunities for a diverse group of high school athletes from all regions of the country to gather and share meaningful experiences.

Entry Process Overview

The qualifications of all teams and individuals expressing their intent to compete in a Great American race are reviewed between March and April. To maintain the integrity of the festival, Invitations are extended to the most qualified teams that express their intent to compete in a Great American Race. Invitations are subject to the Festival obtaining sanctions for each invited team, the payment of all entry fees by the due date, the making of travel arrangements by coaches in a timely manner and the team's submission of all required team forms and rosters, prior to posted deadlines.

Selection Criteria

The following criteria are used as a guide to select teams that receive invitations to the Festival.

1. Great American was founded to improve high school cross-country team running as a school sport in the United States. All sanctioned schools located within 300 miles of a race location that register with the Festival prior to September 1, 2008, will receive Invitations, provided they support the goals and principles of the Festival.
2. In order to develop high school running within the southeast region in which a race is held, the Festival seeks teams from outside of the region that have a proven history of achieving excellence in cross country running and support the goals and principles of the Festival.
3. Invitation preference is given to schools that participated in previous Festivals.
4. Great American is a highly competitive athletic event with a focus on cross-country team running excellence. The Festival seeks the best teams for the most competitive races. Therefore, the ability of teams requesting participation in the Festival's most competitive races is a critical consideration. These are the teams that have demonstrated excellence in high school cross country running as indicated by previous state championship performances and combined team-running times. However, races are conducted in all Great American events for all levels of competition. As such, no team within 300 miles of Hoover, AL will be denied participation in the over-all event because of athletic talent.
5. The town/city, state and region of those teams requesting to participate are of high importance. We seek teams from all regions of the nation and from a combination of rural, small towns and big cities. This is the spirit of Great American.
6. The expressed enthusiasm of teams requesting the opportunity to compete in a Great American event.

Expression of Interest

Teams who seek participation in Great American will be considered provided they follow the procedures outlined in this Statement of Entry Process.

Teams and individuals interested in competing in the Great American Cross Country Festival must complete the online School and Team Registration by September 1, 2008 and pay all entry fees. The Festival will not consider teams that have not registered nor paid. Teams completing such registration after the deadline are not guaranteed consideration and Invitations will be subject to space available, travel budgets, and sanction deadlines.

Invitations

Conditional Invitations are extended to high school teams subject to a team's fully executed acceptance of their invitation by the final entry deadline, payment of all entry fees when due, obtainment of all required sanctions for each team, the making of timely travel reservations and submission of team rosters.

Entry Deadline

All Participating teams must accept their Invitations and pay all required entry fees by September 1, 2008 (normal deadline date) or, at the latest, September 21, 2008 (accompanied by late fees).

Non-Invited Teams

Teams not invited which are located in states outside of a 300 mile radius of Hoover, AL may request permission to participate in Great American before September 1, 2008. Such requests are made on line by checking the appropriate boxes during the registration path (The school acknowledges that while the school was not Invited, the school still seeks permission to participate and will pay its own travel expenses). Additionally, the school acknowledges that the team recognizes that Invited teams located in states which are located more than 300 miles from Hoover are assisted according to the travel policy of the Festival and that the team waives such similar treatment. Acceptance of non-invited teams is subject to consent and sanction of the state association of non-invited teams.

The selection committee of the Festival maintains the right to accept or deny participation by any team.

Clarification of Policy for Non-Invited Teams

Teams not invited which are located outside of a 300 mile radius of Hoover, AL may request permission to participate in the Great American Cross Country Festival provided they request same via the online request procedure as outlined in the entry process.

The selection committee of the Festival maintains the right to accept or deny participation by any team.

These states are partially or entirely outside the 300-mile radius of Hoover, AL and will require interested teams from those states to acknowledge the potential waiving of travel expense reimbursement during the entry process:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey (partial)
• New York (partial)
• Pennsylvania (partial)
• Texas (partial)
• Utah
• Vermont

Final Participants

All Invited and accepted Non-Invited teams will be added to the required list of participating schools for state and national sanctions on September 21, 2008. Sanctioned teams, who pay entry fees by the final deadline, and submit team rosters as required, will be allowed to participate in the meet. Only those schools who are members of their state high school athletic associations will be allowed to compete.

Final Team Rosters

Team rosters must be submitted on the Great American web site no later than 11 am on October 3, 2008.

All Rosters received by 11 am will be posted on our race web site within 48 hours.

No rosters will be accepted by facsimile or any means other than via online entry. Teams failing to submit rosters by the 11 am deadline will be removed from the competition.

All team rosters must be race specific and must name 7 runners for each designated race. No general rosters for entire schools will be accepted.

Changes to rosters must be made in person by the coach at the Packet Pick-up Area at registration all day Friday, October 10, 2008.

Individuals

Elite individuals are accepted into our Race of Champions. Other individuals will be accepted into the Seeded Invitational Race or other races. No more than 20 individuals each will be admitted into the Race of Champions or the Seeded Invitational. Cross country times from 2007 and outdoor track times from 2008 are used to determine eligibility of all interested individuals.

Individuals seeking participation must be members of a high school team and must be sanctioned by their respective state. All such individuals must complete an Individual entry online. The individual's school must be a member of that state's high school athletic association.

Sanctions

Great American's sanction for 2008 will be submitted in May, 2008.

All high school teams participating in high school races must be fully sanctioned to compete in the high school races. Teams are sanctioned by their respective state high school athletic associations, which are members of the National Federation of High School Athletic Associations.

The sanctioning process for all invited teams originates from the host school in the Spring. All invited states are listed on the National Federation Interstate Competition Form. The Form includes this Policy Statement, the dates of the festival, awards and other information related to the event. The sanction form is submitted to the host state, which approves the form and then forwards such form to the National Federation, which then distributes the form to each invited state association. Each state association reviews the sanction form and either denies participation or approves participation of its member schools. Each state forwards its sanction form back to the National Federation.

The sanctioning process for all invited teams originates from the host school in May. All invited states are listed on the National Federation Interstate Competition Form. The Form includes this Policy Statement, the dates of the festival, awards and other information related to the event. The sanction form is submitted to the host state, which approves the form and then forwards such form to the National Federation, which then distributes the form to each invited state association. Each state association reviews the sanction form and either denies participation or approves participation of its member schools. Each state forwards its sanction form back to the National Federation.

Once the National Federation receives responses from all states, a final approval of the event is sent to the host State. This generally occurs 30 days before the event. The National Federation will post on its web site sanction approval by each state association as it is received.

Teams should review sanction guidelines with their state association before acceptance of Invitations. Any questions from state associations or federations should be immediately referred to the meet director.

Non-Member Schools

Great American does now require schools to be members of a state high school association. Therefore, non-member schools are no longer allowed to participate.

For the purpose of this section, a Member School is defined as any high school that is a member of a state high school athletic association or federation, and such association or federation is a member of the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations. All other schools are considered non-member schools.

Significance of Great American

Great American was created to provide an educational experience for a highly diverse make-up of teams from every region of the United States. The success of Great American attracts teams from approximately 25 states and many eventual state championship teams. However, the event is not a championship competition in any form. To prevent the perception of an event that is national in scope, the following steps have been taken by the Festival.

• Participation is by Invitation only. Teams are invited before any national poll is published and without regard to any known national ranking service.
• Great American does not participate with or in any national rankings nor does it share information with any national ranking service.
• There will be no play-off, or qualifying rounds to gain entry into any Great American race.
• The Festival will be held in the early part of the high school cross-country season, rather than at the end of the season.
• The Festival will be held before all state championships.
• Teams from no more than 20 states will be represented in any one race.
• No race will be promoted as a championship race.

In summary of these points, a win in Great American means nothing more than a win on that day, among the teams in your race.

Travel

The Great American Cross Country Festival is committed to equal and fair treatment of all teams. No preferential treatment shall be extended to any team, individual participant or coach.

Participating teams traveling to Great American and located in states which are 700 or more miles from Hoover, Alabama cannot reasonably travel to the Festival without extended loss of school time or unfair travel requirements. Therefore, The Great American Cross Country Festival provides Travel Assistance, to any Invited team located in a state outside of a 300-mile travel radius of Hoover, Alabama.

The amount of the Travel Assistance to Invited teams located more than 300 miles from Hoover, AL is $1000 per team of 7 runners and one coach. The Festival must approve any reimbursement in writing before the travel arrangements are made.

The Festival Travel Committee may make certain adjustments to this policy to assist disadvantaged teams from lower income areas and teams from very small communities with limited opportunities for travel. Any variance from this policy shall require approval by the state high school association of a school.

Awards

Refer to Awards page

Entry Fees

The entry fee prior to September 1, 2008 for one high school varsity team entered by a school is $140; the fee for additional varsity teams is $90 per team. All junior varsity and freshman team entry fees are $70 per team. Teams consist of seven (7) runners only.

A late fee of $35 per school is added to all entries received after September 1, 2008 (or $25.00 late fee per individual).

An individual entry fee for high school participants not part of a school team is $35 per runner.

All entry fees are due and payable upon acceptance of an entry. Fees are for processing entries and are not participation fees. Teams, which accept entries and do not participate by their own, choosing, are not given refunds.

Entry fees must be paid when entry is made on line.

Teams failing to pay entry fees will be dropped from the Festival and replaced by other teams.

College/University Entry Fees - $150 per 7 member team.

The entry fee prior to September 26, 2008 (normal deadline) - no late fee assessed Entries after this date will be assessed a $25.00 per individual late fee or $35.00 per team late fee.

Non-Profit Corporation

The National Scholastic Sports Foundation, Inc. is 501 (c) .3, publicly supported non-profit corporation. All income associated with the Great American Cross Country Festival goes directly into the event.

Entry fees cover less than 30% of the cost of the event. All entry fees are used for awards, event set-up, event entertainment, professional timing services, course rental fees, bus shuttle service, sanctions and other direct expenses.

Questions

National Scholastic Sports Foundation

E-mail:

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