Dates previously set for the 2020 cross country postseason will be split at this month’s meets to accommodate competition and crowds with COVID-19 related precautions.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union jointly announced that state qualifying meets and the state meet will now be separated by classification and take place over two days. The state meets for all classes will remain in Fort Dodge at Lakeside Golf Course, where it has been run as a coed event since 1993.

“Changes to any successful championship are never easy, but holding a two-day meet is our best option this year,” said IGHSAU Executive Director Jean Berger in a news release. “Our new plan really focuses on a safe and rewarding experience, something we all agree is our top priority.”

Classes 1A and 2A will compete on their originally scheduled dates. The state qualifying meets for those classes will be run on Thursday, Oct. 22 and the state meet will be held on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Qualifying meets and the state meet for classes 4A and 3A will be held one day earlier than originally planned. Their qualifying meets will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 21 and the state meet is now scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30.

As an additional precautionary measure, Class 1A will go from five qualifying sites to eight. This will cut attendance at each location by around 10 teams per gender. With this change, Class 1A will feature 16 state qualifying teams – the top two teams qualifying at each site instead of the usual three – and 10 individual state meet qualifiers for each gender instead of the usual 15. The IHSAA and IGHSAU anticipate this will be a one-time qualifying change.

That change will impact Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, whose cross country team is a 1A program. Host schools for the 1A qualifying meets are ACGC, Audubon, Cascade, Central Springs, Clayton Ridge, Mount Ayr, Pekin and Ridge View (Holstein). Team assignments will be released the week of Oct. 12.

Classes 2A, 3A and 4A will remain unchanged in terms of qualifying teams and individuals for the 2020 state meet.