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Meet Info / FAQ1. What is Nike Cross Virtual? A virtual high school XC season. High school cross country athletes from across the U.S. compete in a virtual season for Regional and National bragging rights. Nike wants to inspire and motivate high school XC athletes to continue to train and push the boundaries of their sport, whether they are having a traditional or untraditional fall XC season. 2. Does this replace Nike Cross Regionals/Nationals? No! It won’t replace NXR and NXN but it provides an opportunity for athletes to virtually compete during nontraditional time. 3. Who can participate? All teenage cross-country runners and teams are welcome to participate in the Nike Cross Virtual (“NXV”) Series, that represents nine regions across the United States. The nine regions represented are: Heartland, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, South, Northeast, Southeast, California and New York. Top ranking individuals and teams for each region are then invited to the championship virtual “race”. In order to compete in the NXV Series, you must be in good standing with the NCAA, on track to graduate per your high school’s guidelines and have not been dismissed from your team for disciplinary reasons. Additionally, you must be at a grade level that allows you to participate in high school cross country during the 2020/2021 school year, based on your individual state association rules and guidelines. Each team must be comprised of athletes from the same high school. Individuals may compete according to the guidelines noted above. All individuals must compete under their high school team/coach. Please follow your local, school and state association rules. 4. What if I’m an individual and my team isn’t participating? You can still participate, but you will need to indicate your high school coach/team name during the registration process and your coach will still be required to validate your results. If your result is not validated, it will not be included in the rankings or used to qualify for the championship. 5. How do we register? Go to nikecrossvirtual.com and click the register button that will direct you to the registration page. Coaches register their teams on the site or a coach can register an individual if the team isn’t participating. Instructions for Coaches
Instructions for Athletes
Helpful links: 6. What is the fee? The fee is $10 per athlete, which includes participation into all 7 (or 8 if the participant/team make it into the championship) virtual “races”. 7. What will I receive for participating in the series? Encouragement to keep you motivated to run and have fun during an uncertain time! Additionally, if you are one of the first 10,000 athletes to register you will receive an exclusive, Nike Finish on Empty beanie! Stay tuned for other surprises. 8. How do I get a beanie? The first 10,000 athletes to register for the NXV series will receive a beanie. Beanies will be mailed to coaches by late-November. 9. What if my team isn’t competing in a regular season right now due to COVID-19? You can still compete, whether you are having a regular XC season or not! Please follow your local, school and state association rules. 10. How will COVID guidelines be maintained? Coaches will be held responsible for ensuring that athletes are maintaining their team’s state and local guidelines. If you have questions about your local guidelines, please visit https://web.csg.org/covid19/state-covid-19-websites-and-related-resources/. Please be sure to participate in a safe environment (e.g. please stay away from high traffic areas or areas that may be unsafe for any reason). Participants and their parents/legal guardians/coaches should be aware of the area that they are competing in and be respectful of other bystanders and/or property in the area. Nike will not be responsible for injury or harm to people or property from your participation in the Nike Cross Virtual Series. 11. How do we enter our times each week? Use the AthleticAPP to submit your times each week. Tap on the bell icon at the bottom of the app screen to find notifications and choose NikeCross Virtual.
Helpful links: 12. How are times being validated and how do you make this fair? We can’t make this fair and we get that. This virtual race series is in the spirit of Nike Cross Nationals but will NOT replace it. All courses, weather conditions and altitudes will be different. Times will be validated by coaches on the honor system. Let’s make this fun and keep athletes training and racing! 13. Do we have to run on a true XC course at an official meet? No, but it needs to be a full 5k distance and in the spirit of XC, athletes are encouraged to run on surfaces and conditions that would be similar to a true xc course. Athletes have two options. They can either submit a race time from an official 5k timed cross country meet, or they can submit a non-official race time from a closed loop 5k. For both options, the coach must validate that the time is accurate and was either run at an official timed cross country meet, or was run on a closed loop course. It cannot be run on a track. 14. What is a closed loop course and why is it required if submitting a time from a non-official timed meet? Closed loop means that the 5k course starts and stops in the exact same place. Because the course starts and stops in the same place, it cancels out elevation changes which keeps athletes from running a course that would be all downhill. We understand that there’s no way to make NXV completely fair since all athletes will be competing on different courses in different conditions, but this is a simple way to keep things as consistent as possible. 15. How does the NXV leaderboard work and how often will it be updated? On the NXV leaderboard, individual participant times will be updated in real time. Each athlete's best time will be displayed. Viewers will have the option to filter to just validated times, which will be the only results considered for championship meet qualification. Each Monday, by 2:00 PM PST, NikeCrossVirtual.com will be updated with team standings by region based on the times displayed on the leaderboard. Again, only coach validated results will be included in team scores. 16. When does the NXV series start and end? The NXV series is a seven-week series starting on Monday, September 21st with the final validated time submission ending on Sunday, November 8th at 11:59 PM local time. The virtual championship will take place November 16th-24th (announcement on the 25th). Validated times are due by 11:59 PM, local time, on Tuesday, November 24th and the virtual championship announcement will be released Wednesday, November 25th. 17. Do we have to enter times every week for the full seven-week program in order to be considered for the championship virtual “race”? Each athlete (team attached or unattached) must participate and submit validated times for at least 2 of the 7 weeks in order to be eligible for consideration in the championship virtual "race". Team members do not have to participate in the same weeks but each team member must submit two validated times. 18. What is the deadline for entering times? How many days do we have to run? Time submissions are due and must be coach validated by 11:59 PM, local time, on Sunday of each race week. You can race as many times as you would like Monday – Sunday. As long as the race is at an official timed meet, or on a closed loop course, select your fastest time and enter that. 19. What if I already entered a time for the week, but later in the week I ran a faster time? Please visit this link for information about how to submit a new result: https://support.athletic.net/article/7wox0lfw1s-how-to-edit-or-resubmit-a-virtual-result 20. Why do coaches need to validate times and how do they do it? All race times need to be validated by a coach by 11:59 PM, local time, on Sunday of each race week. The NXV race series is based on the honor system and we are counting on coaches to validate their athletes’ times to keep things as fair as possible. Each athlete must be team connected which will allow coaches access to validate results (both attached and unattached). If a result is not validated, it will not be included in the rankings or used to qualify for the virtual championship.
Coaches, please view this link to learn more about results validation. 21. What’s the criteria for advancement into the Championship virtual “race”? Each athlete (team attached or unattached) must participate and submit validated times for at least 2 of the 7 weeks in order to be eligible for consideration in the championship virtual "race". Team members do not have to participate in the same weeks but each team member must submit two validated times. 22. How many teams will advance into the Championship virtual “race” and will individuals be able to compete in the Championship virtual “race”? The top two (2) teams per region in each gender will advance to the Championship virtual "race". Team scoring will be calculated using each athlete's best validated time (viewable on the leaderboard), and each team athlete must submit validated results for at least 2 of the 7 weeks. Scoring will be based on regular cross country scoring with points assigned to each athlete (1,2,3,4,etc) and the two teams with the lowest score will advance. Scoring will consist of the standard 7 runners, with 5 placers and 2 displacers. Total team time will NOT be what ranks the teams. Additionally, the top five (5) individuals per region in each gender who are not a member of one of the top two teams will advance to the Championship virtual "race". Individuals will also be required to submit validated results for at least 2 of the 7 weeks. There will be a total of 18 teams and 45 individuals per gender competing in the championship virtual "race". 23. How do I know which region my state falls within and how was the regional breakdown determined? The NXV nine regions represented are: Heartland, Midwest, Northwest, Southwest, South, Northeast, Southeast, California and New York. This follows the same breakdown as the traditional Nike Cross Regional format. The state breakdown is as follows: Heartland (IA, KS, MN, NE, ND, SD, WI) 24. When will we be notified about entry into the Championship virtual “race”? On Tuesday, November 10th, there will be a press release posted to announce the qualifying individuals/teams for the championship virtual “race”. The most up to date information can always be found at NikeCrossVirtual.com. Details Here > 25. What are the guidelines for the Championship virtual “race” time submissions? 26. How are the winners of the Championship virtual “race” crowned? The Championship virtual “race” will be scored the same way all other cross-country races are scored. Seven individuals will “race” on each of the qualifying teams and the top five finishers’ places will be added together to compile the team score. The virtual championship announcement will be released on Wednesday, November 25th. Details Here > 27. What will the virtual champions win? The winning boys and girls teams and individuals will receive a trophy and bragging rights as the winners of Nike Cross Virtual! 28. What if we don’t have a full 7 runners like NXN? Your points will still be compiled based on your top 5 finishers’ places to get to your team score. If you’re not competing under a team, your time will still be entered into the individual results. 29. Can a team petition the committee for inclusion in the Championship virtual race if it feels wrongly denied entry? Only the top two teams per region in each gender will advance to the Championship virtual “race”. Additionally, the top five individuals per region in each gender who are not on one of the top two teams will advance to the Championship virtual “race”. 30. Can I receive a refund, if I can no longer compete in the series? Refunds will not be available once a result is submitted. 31. Should I register my team under our high school team or club name? Coaches are advised to check with their respective state associations rules regarding competing as a high school or club prior to registering. How to register using team alias (club name) on the registration page 32. What if I'm in a state where my coach is not allowed to participate in validating results or team registration? In states where coach participation is not allowed, athletes may use AthleticAPP’s Record Run feature. This option records distance, time and route mapping through the app and will automatically validate the result upon submission. This is the only situation where coach validation will not be required to qualify for the championship event. Please see FAQ #11 for information about using AthleticAPP’s GPS Record Run through your app notification. A coach may grant a parent/chaperone access to the team registration page in states where coach participation is not allowed. On the team registration page, a coach simply needs to click “Create Shareable Registration Link”. Sharing this link with a parent/chaperone will allow them to manage the team’s registration for NXV, after signing into their own Athletic.net account. 33. If I have a question not covered by the Q&A who can I talk to? For questions related to registering or submitting your results, please click the “Contact Host” button at the top of the Athletic.net meet page. For questions related to results validation, please contact your coach. For all other questions related to the Nike Cross Virtual program please contact the Regional Meet Director for your region:
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