For high school, will running cross country hurt speed in sprints for track?

Yes I think.

running xc will increase her calf muscles. in the process of this, she might get shin splints but she should recover easily. but it will definitely increase her speed by a seconds and every second matters.

At my school their are a lot of cross country runners who run track. Our best mile runner does cross country and if he wasn't already doing the limit amount of races he could do sprints. He's faster than some of our sprinters.

No, absolutly not. Her endurance will take time to build, which is good about cross country. However during cross country her body will develope muslces that deliver a long smooth stride for long distances and replace her fast twitch muscles which create turnover speed. This is natural of course. She will have a very great amount of stamina for keeping peaked sprinting speeds during a race. She will build her speed back fairly quickly during preseason track, and also her potential for becomming faster will become greater. Injury in XC? Only if she falls in the start and gets trampled. Unlikely. I am a middle distance runner/ sprinter and XC helps me and our 200m runner.

Cross country is a great option. It won't affect her speed, and going the longer distances will increase her stamina for sprinting too, and a good cross country team trains in both speed and stamina (though more stamina- we have a speed day once a week). Not only will she be stronger, but she'll be in better shape than just running track can get her in. There's as much risk for injury in track as there is for cross country, so I don't see why she shouldn't go for it.

I've been in track since 7th grade and was in it until my senior year and graduated. i was a sprinter (100, 200m, 4x100, 4x200, 400) and my junior year of high school i decided to run cross country even though it wasn't really "my thing." I loved it. track was my only sport, so I thought it would be good to get into another sport to keep me in shape and it did just that. I was in the best shape ever when i was in cross country. I know from experience that it didn't effect my sprinting the next two years...it actually made me a lot faster. I Was definitely able to run my 400s better since I gained a lot of endurance and stanima. I think CC will be a very good thing for your daughter, plus the friendships you make in CC are like nothing else. I don't know why, but they just are. Long distance runners...they're a little crazy!!!

Running cross country can only help her future track times. As an added bonus, cross country is about a million times more fun and both kids and parents enjoy the cross country meets a lot more than track meets.

i think she should definately run cross country, its going to put her so far ahead when track season comes back around. it'll build stamina and in those early invitationals when everybody else is just getting there body right shes ready. alot of the race is just knowing how to breathe right and cross country will help her with that. it doesnt matter about how the school does, sprinting is like bloxing. you get your own shine even in the relays, your team may be overall slow but scouts are looking at the split times. how do so and so run there leg. how did she take and receive her handoff. volleyball limits you because your recognition can only be so much when your team isnt good, you gotta have people there to see you. whereas if its 15 schools at one track meet, theres colleges there believe me...IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME.

As far as injuries, she could get injured playing any of those sports. Cross country is not worse than basketball or volleyball . The endurance gained from cross country will help her with the 400m. It won't improve her 100m time but it won't hurt it either.