In 1956 Forrest Jamieson had a different idea. If he could help runners such as Ron Larrieu develop world-class talent, why couldn't other high school coaches throughout the country do the same? Seeking to further develop American distance running talent at the grass roots level, while concurrently promoting interest and participation in the sport of cross country, Forrest began the process of organizing and promoting a nationwide series of "postal meets", two mile races run on tracks following the conclusion of the cross country season.

This variation on postal track meets from his Drake years would determine an unofficial national high school cross country team champion: simply total up the times from the top five runners from each participating postal meet team; the team with the lowest aggregate time would be the winner.  Standardized track surfaces and the two mile distance would ensure the accuracy of this nationwide competition.  Coaches from around the country would mail or telex their team and individual times to a central reporting body; results would then be tabulated and announced soon afterwards.

Forrest first approached SPORTS ILLUSTRATED - and was promptly sent packing.  A more sympathetic ear had to be found - and was, just a few miles away in the adjacent town of Los Altos.  There, Bert Nelson, Forrest's former high school rival, was editing a small, growing publication titled TRACK AND FIELD NEWS, a magazine he co-founded with his brother Cordner in 1948.  Nelson readily agreed to promote Forrest's postal meets.  Postal meet directors would mail results to TRACK AND FIELD NEWS, which would tally up the results and report the top teams and individuals in its January issues.

Through this format, Forrest annually challenged the nation's top high school cross country teams to match the marks put up by his Paly squads.  With publicity offered through the magazine and the PALO ALTO TIMES newspaper, the first two mile postal race competitions were launched throughout the United States following the conclusion of the 1957 cross country season.  1957's national winner was Morningside of Inglewood, CA in 50:25.5 (10:05.1 per runner); Paly placed second in 51:14.2.