State Qualifying Banner

      
            At the state qualifying meet for cross country the teams that place in the first three go to state as well as the top ten individual runners. For the two years that I have been on my cross country team we have gone to the state cross country meet but only one of those years have we also gotten a state qualifying banner for qualifying for state.

            Most sports get state qualifying banners when they qualify for state but for girls cross country you have to place first at districts, the state qualifying meet. I think this is very unfair. Even the guys cross country team gets a state banner if they place in the top three and qualify but the girls cross country team has to place first. Only fifteen  cross country teams go to state for cross country so I think it is pretty big deal if you get to go and I think the cross country team should get a banner for qualifying for state even if they don't place first in districts.

            My cross country team is ranked ninth in state right now and has a good chance of qualifying for state. Our district or state qualifying meet is tonight and there is really only one team that will be major competition for us. Iowa City West is in our district and they are ranked sixth in state. We have been running against Iowa City West all season. Iowa City West has beaten us in most races though we won against them in one or two. We just raced Iowa City West last week and their team won against ours by about eight points. Tonight if everyone is running around the same times they normally run, Iowa City West will probably win and that means no banner for my team.

            Getting a banner for qualifying for state doesn’t seem like a big deal but it can be especially for the seniors on varsity for cross country. As a senior if your team gets a state qualifying banner you get to present the banner to the whole school. My sister was a junior last year and when the cross country team won a banner she wasn’t able to present it to the school because she was a junior. Now as a senior my sister was really looking forward to presenting a banner to the school and has been working very hard to do so but without placing first in districts we won’t have a banner to present to the school even if we qualify for state. It also seems to be sexist that the boys cross country team gets a banner for qualifying for state no matter what they place but girls have to place first to get a state qualifying banner.
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