SplitTrackCross country scoring is simple until you ask one useful question: what changes if this runner moves? Race Lab is a free cross country race simulator from SplitTrack. Bring in race results, move a runner to a new place or time, and watch every affected team score update. Save the scenario, share the race, or reset everything and test another outcome.
A finish list tells you what happened. It does not always show why the race changed.
A fifth runner can decide the score. A sixth or seventh runner can displace an opponent. One athlete moving three places can change two teams at once. Those ideas make sense on paper, but they become much easier to understand when you can move the runner and see the standings recalculate in front of you.
That is the idea behind Race Lab.
What is Race Lab?
Race Lab is a public tool for exploring cross country race results. It is available in a web browser. You do not need a SplitTrack account to use it.
You can:
- Open the included Divisionals sample race
- Import your own CSV or JSON results
- Keep several races or sections together as tabs
- Move a runner by place or enter a new scenario time
- See team scores and standings update immediately
- Compare a scenario with the recorded results
- Undo, redo, or reset your changes
- Filter teams and search for a runner
- Export the current scenario as a CSV
- Save a race and copy a public share link
The goal is not to replace official results. The goal is to make the relationships inside those results visible.
The key concept: one finish order, many team effects
Cross country is an individual race with a connected team score. Each athlete has one place, but that place can affect several teams.
Race Lab uses the familiar scoring model:
- The first five runners from a complete team score.
- The lowest team total wins.
- The sixth and seventh runners can displace scoring runners from other teams.
- A team needs at least five finishers to receive a team score.
- Runners from incomplete teams stay visible, but they do not take team scoring points.
Every runner tile also shows its role. You can see who is a scorer, who is a displacer, and which result changed in the scenario. The standings show the five scoring places that make each total.
This makes an important coaching idea concrete: the race is not only about your first runner. The fifth runner completes the score. The sixth and seventh runners still matter because they can push another team’s scorers back.
Move one runner and see the whole race change
Open a race and use the finish board. Drag a runner to a new row, or select the runner and enter a new place. You can also enter a scenario time. Race Lab places the athlete into the correct order and recalculates the field.
After each move, you can see:
- The runner’s new place
- The team’s new point total
- Any change in the team standings
- Which athletes now score or displace
- How the scenario differs from the recorded finish
Use Show real results to compare the scenario with the original order. Use Undo and Redo to explore several moves without rebuilding the race. Use Reset race when you want to start again from the source results.
Bring your own results
Race Lab accepts CSV and JSON files. If you want the fastest start, download the CSV template from the Race Lab page and replace the sample rows with your results.
The smallest CSV needs three columns:
| Column | What it contains | Example |
|---|---|---|
| name | Runner name | Jordan Lee |
| team | Team name | Central |
| time | Finish time | 16:42.18 |
You can also include race, place, and bib. The race column is especially useful for a meet with several divisions or sections. Every unique race value becomes a separate tab inside the same Race Lab.
That means one file can hold Boys Varsity, Girls Varsity, JV, or several recorded sections. You can move between those races without creating a separate link for each one.
Race Lab checks the file before it saves. It rejects missing runner data, duplicate runners, invalid times, and race structures that cannot produce a reliable finish order. If the import finds a problem, it points you toward the row that needs attention.
Why this is helpful for coaches
Post-race review becomes specific. Instead of saying “our fifth runner mattered,” you can show the exact places and points. Move the athlete back to the recorded finish, then test the gap you are discussing.
Athletes can learn team scoring. New runners often understand their own time before they understand displacement. Race Lab shows why the sixth and seventh runners keep racing through the line.
Tactical conversations become visual. You can explore a close matchup without redrawing the score by hand. Test one move, then another. The finish board keeps the rest of the field in order.
Meet staff can inspect unusual results. Team filters, runner search, recorded-place comparison, and CSV export make it easier to review a dense finish list. Race Lab is not meet management software, but it can help people understand the result after the timing system produces it. For the broader race-day workflow, read our guide to high school meet management software.
Several sections stay together. A single import can produce several tabs. Coaches can keep a whole meet in one shareable Race Lab instead of passing several spreadsheets around.
Save, share, and keep the original safe
When you import a file, Race Lab saves the results and gives the race a public link. Saved races also appear in the public Race Lab list.
The browser that creates the race keeps a private edit key. That browser can save a scenario back to the shared race. Other visitors can open the link and test their own moves, but they cannot overwrite the saved race. Their experiments stay in their browser unless they are the creator.
This gives you a simple sharing model:
- Import the official or published results.
- Build the scenario you want to discuss.
- Save the changes from the creating browser.
- Copy the share link.
- Send it to athletes, coaches, or parents.
Saved races are public. Only upload results that you are comfortable showing in the public Race Lab list.
What Race Lab is not
- It is not an official timing system.
- It does not change the published results from a meet.
- It is not a prediction of what an athlete will run next week.
- It does not replace a coach’s judgment about training, health, or race strategy.
- It does not hide saved results behind an account. Shared races are public by design.
Race Lab is a controlled “what if” space. It starts with results you trust, keeps the original order available, and lets you explore one connected change at a time.
How to try Race Lab
- Open Race Lab.
- Choose the 2026 Divisionals sample to learn the finish board.
- Move one scorer or displacer and watch the team standings.
- Turn on Show real results to compare the scenario.
- Return to the race list.
- Download the CSV template and add your own results.
- Import the file, test a scenario, and copy the share link.
Race Lab is free to use at getsplittrack.com/race-lab. If you need the rest of the season in one place, SplitTrack also connects schedules, practices, rosters, communication, and meet-day work. Start with our guide to track and cross country team management software.
A finish list records the race. Race Lab helps you understand the system inside it.
Move one runner. Watch the whole race change.
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