Franklin Cross Country News

This is a big week for the cross country team. The Franklin Invitational is Thursday. A Cross Country team officially has 7 members that count in the scoring. At the Invitational the top 7 runners from each school will run in the first four races. The 6/7 girls top 7 is a 4:30, followed by the 6/7 boys, 8th girls and 8th boys. The 5th race of the evening will be the girls open race followed by the boys open race. The open races are for all the other runners that did not run in the first 4 races. There will be ribbons awarded to the top 35 runners in all 6 races.

We are hosting 8 other schools and expect over 500 runners to finish. This requires the help of everyone on the team. The athletes are expected to work one of the six races. Anyone that can stay to the end would be appreciated.

Athletes running in: will work the:

Open girls race 6/7 girls top 7 race Additionally any parent that

Open boys race 6/7 boys top 7 race can help with crowd control

6/7 girls race 8th girls top 7 race (holding the ropes) at the finish

6/7 boys race 8th boys top 7 race would be appreciated.

8th girls race open girls race

8th boys race open boys race

On Friday there is no school for the runners. We will have an optional practice as St. James Farm. This is the park that Wheaton North uses for its home cross country course as well as Wheaton College. We will meet in the parking lot off of Hoy Ave (see map on back) at 3:30 and should be done in an hour. The Prairie Path runs right to St. James if any of the athletes want to ride their bikes. It is about 3 miles to St. James. It is a great place to run we hope you would encourage your child to join us. If any parents are interested in running with us you are welcome.

In addition to this week you will notice a number of other events on the Franklin Practice schedule.

October 4 - The first age group meet of the season is the Belvidere Invitational. These are Saturday races that middle school students can enter and run in. Similar to a weekend road race only these races are cross country races just for kids.

Also on October 4 is the Wheaton North Falcon Classic at St. James. Over 25 teams will race in 9 races.

On Wednesday October 8th is the Naperville Twilight Meet - . It is a night cross country race. Portable lights are used to light up the course. This is a fun race to watch with a carnival like atmosphere. Neuqua Valley High School - 2360 95th Street
Naperville, IL 60564

November 8th is the high school State Championship in Peoria – it is on the north side of Peoria and is about a 2 ½ hour ride. You can check www.IHSA.org the week before to see if any Wheaton runners have qualified.

November 22nd will see the NCAA Division I and III National championships in the mid-west. The DI meet will be in Terre Haute, Indiana (Indiana State). It is less than a 4 hour drive to see the best college runners in the world. The DIII meet is in Mason, Ohio just 5 hours away. National Championships are always exciting. This is the first weekend of Thanksgiving vacation.