On December 12th in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a contingent of young runners from East of Charlotte competed in the USATF Junior Olympic Cross Country Championships. Running under the banner of the Fit 180 club team, the vast majority of the athletes attend three schools in Union County with familiar names to anyone who follows the high school running scene in North Carolina: Cuthbertson Middle, Weddington Middle, and Marvin Ridge Middle. The Fit 180 runners generated a team score in all 4 middle-school-age races, with the top finish coming in the 11-12 boys race, where they ended up 5th despite running at over 5000 feet of elevation. That comes on the heels of complete team domination of the middle school races at the North Carolina USATF Championship, with Fit 180 claiming the win in all 4 of the 11-12 and 13-14 races. The club team's success at these championship meets is only a small part of a much larger story, one that should inform other counties that sponsor middle-school cross country or are considering it. Quite simply, Union County does middle school running right, and other parts of the state should emulate their approach.
Feeder Schools
It's no accident that the three high schools on the western edge of Union County that match those middle schools are all strong in cross country (and a fourth, Sun Valley, had a long history of success before the other three were even built). Sure, they have the type of demographics that traditionally support a sport like cross country, and there are some stable, strong, long-term coaching staffs in place. TAt Marvin Ridge, Weddington, and Cuthbertson, the unheralded part of the equation for high school cross country success has been the strength of the middle school programs that feed them.
All but 2 of the traditional middle schools in Union County field cross country teams (the pool is even larger if you include private schools like Metrolina Christian), and some of the teams are quite large. When you combine those schools with those in the nearby South Charlotte area, you find yourself in the strongest hotbed of middle-school distance running in the state. With organized and successful running programs reaching athletes as early as 6th grade and providing structure and progressive training as they develop, the foundation is already in place when the athletes move up to the high schools.
Rivalry But Also Camaraderie
If you have been around middle school athletics, anywhere, for any length of time, the chances are that you have seen some ridiculous extremes from the adults and kids involved. In some places, the coaches and parents invest entirely too much of their own pride and ego into the success of the program, and in other places the sole emphasis is on participation and self-esteem without any actual athlete development going on. Quality coaching is lacking in many middle schools, and that includes the ability to maintain the proper perspective on the true purpose that 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-grade athletics serves.
What really makes the middle-school running scene in Union County special is the atmosphere. While there are some strong rivalries that match the intensity of those between the close-set high schools in the area, there is an even greater sense of support among the runners. This is no doubt supported by the presence of two strong club teams in the area, Fit 180 and Waxhaw Track Club, which allows many of the runners from rival teams to train and compete together outside of the school season. The 11-12 boys referenced above, who finished 5th at the Junior Olympics, were composed of a mixture of runners from Cuthbertson and Weddington Middles. Changing districts in the area also help - it's no longer true that all of the athletes from Cuthbertson Middle feed directly into Cuthbertson High, for example.
If you expand the area to South Charlotte, an even greater picture emerges. The private schools in that area compete in the Greater Charlotte Middle School Athletic Association (GCMSAA), and their regular season meets routinely include public schools from at least three counties. All of that has led to a running community that straddles the Mecklenburg-Union county line, one that celebrates the success and improvement of young athletes. It's a great example of how public and private, middle- and high-school, scholastic and club team can all work together to support and develop young runners.
Rare in North Carolina
Compare Union County to neighboring Mecklenburg County, and the difference is stark. Cross country is not even listed as an official sport offering for middle schools on the CMS website, although the county does have one of the stronger overall middle school track programs in the state. A handful of Charlotte middle schools have put together their own team, but overall the county is doing little to develop distance runners year-round. Sadly, this is all too common in North Carolina - Wake County's middle schools also do not list cross country as an official sport, and the same is true in Guilford County. Forsyth County is in only its second year of having official cross country teams, which is a positive step forward.
Given that cross country is arguably the least expensive sport for a school system to sponsor, and considering the amount of media attention given to the epidemic of obesity and sedentary lifestyle that is afflicting today's youth, it seems like a no-brainer that the major school systems should be creating, supporting, and emphasizing cross country at the middle-school level. North Carolina's largest population centers need to take a page from the Union County playbook.