This email is being sent to all students, and their parents, who are currently registered for the Boys Cross Country Team for this coming season.  Due to the very strict State of Connecticut, CIAC, FCIAC and Westport Public School guidelines that must be adhered to this fall it is imperative that you have and follow the enclosed procedures and other attached information:

1. Because of the above mentioned guidelines it is not possible for us to keep everyone on the team. Under normal circumstances I would be keeping everyone regardless of their ability. This season we will have to make cuts. Our conditioning and fitness evaluation period will start on Saturday, August 29 and end on Friday, September 11. During this time you will participate in an individual one mile fitness trial on either Saturday 8/29 or Monday 8/31. The purpose of this trial is to help the coaches place you into the proper training cohort for the next two weeks. Please see the attached One Mile Trial Schedule for your day and individual time. Please arrive at the track 30 minutes before your scheduled time for a proper warm up. Please be dressed to run and bring the following items: a facial mask, a signed copy of your individual daily Covid-19 Questionnaires are also attached) and a water bottle (the fountains are not on). Following your completed trial you must leave the site.

2. Please make every effort to keep your assigned day and time for your trial. If you have a conflict please resolve it on your own. I will not get involved in trying to rearrange the schedule to meet individual needs. You may switch day and time with someone else, but please let me know if this is done. Do not assume it is OK to come during someone else's time. If two people come during the same time period only the original scheduled person will be allowed the trial.

3. On Tuesday, September 1 you will be notified by email of your training cohort and practice time which is currently up in the air. Most likely we will practice in the late afternoon. From Tuesday, September 1 until Friday, September 11 you will be training with your designated cohort group and participating in a variety of workouts and time trials designed to help us decide individual conditioning and fitness levels. Besides evaluating your running ability and improved progress, we will also be looking at your work ethic, sense of responsibility to the team, dedication to your on time attendance and adherence to the current covid guidelines. In essence we will be looking for only those individuals who truly want to be part of a competitive team.

4. In past years there have been a number of you who were either only using the Cross Country Team as a method to get in shape for other winter sports seasons, as a way to use the Fitness Center in the afternoon (due to the restrictions placed on us this season we will not be using the fitness center), to simply to be part of a team or have a place to go in the afternoon. This will not be possible this season. Hopefully, next year we might be able to return to our old policy, but for now we are not able to. Therefore, I am asking those of you who are here for a reason other than competing on a competitive team to please withdraw from the team to make room for those who truly want the competitive experience.

5 As mentioned above we will be making cuts this year. Once the two week conditioning and fitness evaluation period has concluded the team will be pared down to 48 students. To help us make this decision we will run a 2 mile time trial as a final fitness evaluation. This is necessary for several reasons, the one most relevant being that we are only allowed to have 24 entries in a varsity race and 24 entries in a combined JV, Freshmen or novice race. In past years we were allowed unlimited entries in these races. Varsity races will occur during the school week in the form of a dual meet against one other team. The other, sub-varsity races, if approved, will be held on Saturdays. Currently, we are scheduled for 5 dual meets involving schools in the central region of the FCIAC and one small championship type meet. The sub-varsity race proposal is still on the table waiting for approval which may or may not happen. If not approved, our sub-varsity runners will experience an intrasquad meet each week. All of this is a drastic change from past years when there were several Varsity, JV, Freshmen and Novice multi dual meets, 3 or 4 invitationals and several championship races ranging from the FCIAC to State, New England and National competitions.

6. During the conditioning and fitness evaluation period and certainly during the competitive season you are reminded of the importance to remain safe and covid free. Therefore, it will be important that you limit your social contacts to your family, school and team contacts and avoid any other contact that may compromise your health and the health of your contacts. This is important because if you become infected your entire training cohort will be prohibited from practicing and competing with the team until either their quarantine period is over or they can produce a negative test result. In other words, please be careful and responsible for not only your health, but the health of others.

7. Once the team is selected you will be notified by me of our selections. Until then, please make sure you are prepared for practice each day and bring a signed copy of your individual daily Covid-19 Questionnaire to each practice you attend, wear a mask to practice, bring a water bottle and if you are involved in an online school day dress for practice at home. In school students will be able to change in the locker room.

8. Please go online at Staples Athletics and complete the new Covid-19 2020 Parent/Athlete Consent Form that is now required of all registered athletes. If this form is not completed you will not be allowed to participate in practice or meets. Also, do not forget to open the two attachments to this email.