MSHSAA Sets 2026 Cross Country District Host Sites

MSHSAA has set the host sites for the 2026 cross country district meets, and the map looks noticeably different than it did last fall.

Twenty district meets will be run across five classes, with four districts in each class. Only District 1 in the southeast and St. Louis area returns its full slate of hosts from 2025. The other three regions turn over every site.

District 1: Southeast / St. Louis

District 2: Southwest

District 3: Central / Northeast

District 4: Northwest / Kansas City

What changed from 2025

District 1 is the constant. Oak Ridge keeps Class 1, Arcadia Valley keeps Classes 2 and 3, and Cape Central again takes Classes 4 and 5 after running that meet at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau last year.

Everywhere else, every host is new:

The biggest geographic swing belongs to the largest schools in District 3. Classes 4 and 5 ran at Sioux Passage Park in Florissant last fall and will run at Hannibal this year, pushing that meet roughly 100 miles north.

District 2 also spreads out. Class 1 joins Class 2 at El Dorado Springs, Class 3 gets its own site at Clever, and Bolivar picks up the Class 4 and Class 5 meet that Nixa had been running.

The class pairings moved, too

In 2025 the pairings were uniform statewide: Classes 2 and 3 shared a site in every district, and so did Classes 4 and 5. That is no longer true.

District 2 now pairs Classes 1 and 2 and gives Class 3 a site of its own. District 4 goes further, pairing Classes 1 and 2 at North Platte, Classes 3 and 4 at Kearney, and standing Class 5 alone at Liberty North. Districts 1 and 3 keep the old 1 / 2-3 / 4-5 structure.

School-by-school class and district assignments are slated to be announced on September 11th.