Scoring

cores are determined by summing the top four or five individual finishing places on each team. In international competition, a team typically consists of six runners, with the top four scoring. In the United States, the most common scoring system is seven runners, with the top five scoring. Points are awarded to the individual runners of eligible teams, equal to the position in which they cross the finish line (first place gets 1 point, second place gets 2 points, etc.). The points for these runners are summed, and the low score wins. Individual athletes, and athletes from incomplete teams are excluded from scoring. Ties are usually broken by the position of each teams sixth runner.

The lowest possible score in a five to score match is 15 (1+2+3+4+5), achieved by a teams runners finishing in each of the top five positions. If there is a single opposing team then they would have a score of 40 (6+7+8+9+10), which can be considered a sweep for the winning team. In some competitions a teams sixth and seventh runner are scored in the overall field and are known as pushers or displacers as their place can count ahead of other runners. In the above match, if there are two non scoring runners and they came 6th and 7th overall, the opponents score would be 50 (8+9+10+11+12). Accordingly, the official score of a forfeited dual meet is 15 50.