EBAL CROSS COUNTRY BYLAWS
Sec. I. Cross Country is a Fall sport, as defined by North Coast Section.
Sec. II The National Federation Cross Country Rules (from the National Federation of State High School Associations) are the official rules and shall govern all EBAL competition. Where National Federation rules are superseded by California Interscholastic Federation or North Coast Section rules, the EBAL shall follow the CIF/NCS rules.
Sec. III As of September 2016, the EBAL will be comprised of the following schools: Amador Valley, California, Carondelet (girls), De La Salle (boys), Dougherty Valley, Dublin, Foothill, Granada, Livermore, Monte Vista, and San Ramon Valley. Thus, the EBAL consists of ten teams per gender.
Sec. IV Practice and competitive season start dates:
Official practice may begin on the date designated by the NCS, typically the second Monday in August. The EBAL competitive season is based on the NCS and CIF Cross Country Championship dates. The CIF date is always the Saturday following Thanksgiving and the NCS Championship date is always one week prior to the CIF date. Per NCS guideline, the league championships can occur no later than two weeks prior to the NCS Championship. The EBAL Championship will be held either on the Friday fifteen days before the NCS Championship or the Saturday fourteen days before the NCS Championship. The EBAL competitive season will consist of a EBAL Championship meet.
Sec. V Race Courses for league races:
The site of the EBAL Championship meet shall be determined, if possible, at the postseason meeting. The site must accommodate all of the league teams and satisfy the requirements for hosting a meet.
Sec. VII EBAL Championship Meet: The frosh-soph and junior varsity races can have an unlimited number of competitors per team. Varsity teams may consist of up to ten runners per team. Coaches are not required to designate scoring runners. In all races, only the top seven runners per team will be used for scoring and displacing purposes. The frosh-soph competitors must be in the 9th or 10th grade. Junior varsity competitors may be any grade level.
A school must first field a complete varsity team before it can field a junior varsity team. If a team fails to field a complete varsity team (minimum 5 runners), the JV team and individuals for that school and gender will be disqualified.
Sec. VIII Race distances, course descriptions:
Varsity and junior varsity race distances will be approximately three miles/five kilometers unless mutually agreed upon by the coaches of the competing schools to run a shorter distance. The meet director shall be responsible for giving out directions to the course, attesting to the accuracy of the course’s dimensions and its safety, and ensuring through various means that the visiting schools clearly understand the layout of the course. These means can and should include course markings and/or markers, walking the visiting teams through the course, and providing maps of the course. However, the successful accomplishment of the intra-league meets is the responsibility of all the EBAL schools. (see sec. XI below).
Sec. IX Scoring for EBAL meet and overall league champions’ determination:
The EBAL Championship meet will each be scored as a typical multi-team cross country race (i.e., “invitational scoring”).
For each varsity division the overall EBAL team championship shall be based on the results from the EBAL Championship Meet.
All-League varsity runners will be based on the top 21 finishers in the respective races, at the league championships. (First Team; 1-10 runners, Second Team; 11-21 runners) First Team runners will receive a patch and certificate, the Second Team runners will receive certificates only.
Sec. X Responsibilities for execution of competitive meets:
The handling of the league championships will be the responsibility of all the league schools working together. The discussion of how the meets will be conducted (order of races, start times, awards, etc.) preparatory tasks, and assignment of pre-race and race-day responsibilities, will be done at the coaches’ preseason meeting. Then the information will be communicated during the competitive season.
Sec. XI Expenses:
All participating schools shall share expenses incurred by the league teams in conducting the competitive season, equally. The EBAL Championship meet director must notify the other schools and league commissioner of the respective facility rental fees. This can be done prior to the preseason coaches meeting in August. In addition to the facility rental fees, other expenses can include racing bibs and pins, input coordinator/computer operator, trainer, and portable bathrooms.
Sec. XII Preseason and Postseason Meetings:
The coaches’ preseason and postseason meeting shall be scheduled with the other fall sports preseason and postseason meetings.
The preseason meeting will serve to confirm the responsibilities of each school for the upcoming season. The order of races, start times, awards, preparatory tasks, etc. will also be confirmed at this meeting. The meeting will be chaired by the meet director.
The postseason meeting will serve to set the meet location and schedule for the next year. It will also serve to consider and possibly recommend bylaw changes. The meet director for the following season’s championship meet will volunteer or be nominated at the postseason meeting. The AD in charge of cross country will ratify the selection. Any other issues and/or business related to cross country can also be dealt with at this meeting. The meeting shall be chaired by the coach or coaches of the just-concluded season’s championship teams. Minutes of the meeting shall be taken and conveyed to the league commissioner.