How do team scoring and state team selection work?

• Each Member Association (state or territory) nominates its Official Team Members: a minimum of four and a maximum of twelve athletes per team. Members are declared at entry and can be altered up until call time for each race. If nothing changes by call time, the declared athletes remain the team.
• The first four finishers count in the Open event, and the first three finishers count in the underage events (Under 11 to Under 20).
• Teams score by the least number of points, according to the finishing positions of their scoring members. Non-scoring members, and members of a team that fails to finish the minimum number to score, are removed from the team points. There are no "blockers" in the Australian Cross Country Championships.
• If competitors tie for a place, the points for those places are added together and divided equally between them.
• If teams tie on points, the team whose last scoring member finished nearest to first place wins.
• Para teams: two athletes score per team, and a separate Para teams championship only runs if at least three teams are confirmed in an age group.
• There is only one set of individual and team medals per event, whether an athlete entered as a Member Association member or a school student.

Source: 2026 Australian Cross Country Championships Technical Regulations, sections 6, 21 and 22.