XC Weekend Preview: Carolina On My Mind

There is plenty of history on display this weekend with classic meets scattered across New York State. Between McQuaid (47th) , St. Anthony's (41st), Grout (73rd), Paul Short and The Mayor's Cup it's quite possible that your grandfather competed at one of these meets.

Throw in some new classics — like The Great American XC Invitational — and the weekend promises to give us even a better idea about the top teams and runners... and hopefully some news stars emerge.

Fordham Prep Developmental

Cancelled a year ago because of heavy rains, this year's meet is scheduled to have 16 teams compete in freshman and jayvee races.

Great American Cross Country Festival

This is one of the best college and high school meets in the country year-in and year-out. Put on by the NSSF, the same group that runs New Balance Indoor & Outdoor Nationals. The fields are once again very deep, led by the U.S. No. 2 Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) girls. Monroe-Woodbury (N.Y.) is also in the Race of Champions, along with Armory regular Tatnall School (Del.).

Danbury (Conn.), Bishop Feehan (Mass.), Bishop Guertin (N.H.), and Bishop Hendricken (R.I.) are the top New England teams entered.

A year ago Saratoga Springs won, 53-114, over Midlothian (Va.) and Cornwall (N.Y.) graduate Aisling Cuffe destroyed the field by nearly a minute.

Maroon Invitational

It seems that Friday afternoon invitationals are becoming more and more popular. Twelve races will be run from 4 pm to 6:10 pm. Nearly 20 mostly New Jersey teams should be on hand to tackle the classic course at Garrett Mountain. Don Bosco and Ridgewood are the top entries. Many schools are limited to racing on Saturday this weekend with the Jewish Holiday Rosh Hashanah from Wednesday night to Friday night.

Tom Knipfing Invitational

This small meet, formerly called the PAL XC meet, is sponsored by Shoreham-Wading River. Starting at 3:30 pm with 1.7-mile races for freshmen, followed by four varsity races divided by school size. The course is 60 percent pavement and 40 percent grass.

Brooks Paul Short Invitational

ArmoryTrack.com will be onsite for coverage

The eyes of the college cross country world will turn to Bethlehem, Pa., this weekend for the Brooks Paul Short Invitational and Armory Track will be there.

More than 100 colleges and universities will compete on the Lehigh University course in a total of six college races, three for each gender — the Gold, the Brown and the White. The college program will kick off with the Gold races, men at 11 am and the women following at 11:45 am.

Full preview | College Assignment List | Venue

Notre Dame Invitational

Two races for each the men and women will be held in South Bend (Ind.). Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Butler, BYU, Clemson, Florida State, Ohio State, Penn State, Texas A&M, UCLA,and Stanford are just some of the teams competing.

Princeton and Stony Brook are two Eastern schools we will be keeping an eye on.

Beaver River Invitational

About a dozen teams usually make the trip to Beaver River, which will hold seven races starting with a community 5k at 8:45 am and concluding with middle school races at noon. Last year the Thousand Island boys and Canton girls won the varsity races.

Brewster Bear Invitational

The meet directors had to move race times around with the SAT being held in the morning, but you can bet most of the usual teams will be there. Teams will be split into three varsity races each for the boys and girls. Seven other sub-varsity races will be contested from 10 am to 3:50 pm.

The Brewster, Nanuet, Newburgh and Somers girls are some of the top entries. There will also be a handful of Connecticut teams in attendance. Click here for complete entries.

Gormley-Keller Coleman Invitational

Hosted by John A. Coleman High in Section 9, the meet will feature eight races, including races for coaches and CYO students as well as middle school, jayvee and varsity athletes. The course is listed as having grass, blacktop, dirt and rolling hills.

Grout Invitational

Last year Grout had four of the top six boys' teams from the State Federation meet compete. One of the oldest meets, starting as an invitational in 1939, Grout is also among the largest meets in upstate New York as it will dole out more than 500 custom medals for individuals.

This year's entries include Rhinebeck, Bayport Bluepoint, Washingtonville, Scotia, La Salle, Niskayuna, Colonie, and Guilderland.

McQuaid Invitational

This is the biggest meet in the state this weekend and among the biggest of the year. Drawing schools from all over New York, Pennsylvania and Canada, the entries by the numbers are — 228 schools, 80 from Section 5, 103 NY teams from outside Section 5, 25 out of state, 20 from Canada and 30 new teams.

There are so many top teams it's hard to get your head around it, but here are the teams that jump out: Burnt Hills (B), East Aurora (B), Geneseo (D), Greenwich (C), Hilton (A), Honeoye Falls-Lima (B), Maple Grove (D), McQuaid Jesuit (B), Pawling (C), Pittsford Mendon (B), Pittsford Sutherland (B), Rush Henrietta (B), Seton Catholic (D), Shaker (A) and Warwick Valley (A).

Complete entries and race assignments are posted here.

Nassau Officials Invitational

The meet takes place at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, which has some of the oldest building on Long Island. How many of the coaches out there went to the camp at the Village during the summer and had to dress in period costume? Come on, you can admit it. (I was there in my knickers making horseshoes).

Eight races — featuring mostly Section 8 teams — will be contested starting at 10 am. Last year there were 15 teams in attendance and the Calhoun and Mepham boys won the varsity races while the Wantagh and Syoseet girls did the same.

NYC Mayor's Cup Championships

Seventeen boys teams will toe the line to be crowned Mayor's Cup Champion, a meet that is open to all New York City teams, both private and public. The top boys teams entered are — in order — Monsignor Farrell, Collegiate, Bronx Science and Stuyvesant. Collegiate is the top ranked Class C team in the state while Farrell is ranked seventh in Class A.

The top girls' PSAL teams this year are Port Richmond, Curtis and Townsend Harris while St. John Villa, a CHSAA team, could give Port Richmond a race. The individual title could be between Cardozo teammates Sabrina Southerland and Alexis Panisse. Both placed in the top five last weekend at the New Balance Ocean State Invitational in Rhode Island.

Starting positions are posted here.

Schaeffer Invitational

Last year Sullivan West edged Harpursville, 78-79, while Oneonta won the girls race, 26-38, over Sullivan West. This year's meet should be much the same — about seven to 10 Section 4 teams battling it out.

Sherburne-Earlville Invitational

The high school's course starts out mostly uphill — a gradual climb. The middle is downhill with flat areas and the course ends with about a mile of relatively flat stretches. The terrain includes grass, a dirt road and a small stream crossing.

Shore Coaches Invitational

This is a monster meet — it's that simple. There are seven varsity boys and girls races with close to 200 schools. The U.S. No. 1 CBA boys of Lincroft will be in the Championship race at 3:15 pm and will race the second-ranked New Jersey team, West Windsor Plainsboro South. Henderson (Pa.) — ranked fourth in the Keystone — is the lone out of state team entered in the race.

On the girls side, U.S. No. 15 Voorhees (N.J.) is the favorite in the Championship race while Pennslyvania's top team, West Chester Henderson, will be a tough foe.

St. Anthony's Invitational

One of the oldest meets in New York — run at the famed Sunken Meadow State Park — this year's varsity races will be contested on the 5,000-meter course instead of the 2.5-mile track often used at this meet. The 5k is much harder than the 2.5 becuase you have to run up the hill through the picnic area and then run up Cardiac Hill. Uhhhh!

About 40 teams will split up into Varsity A-1, Varsity A-2 and small school races. The Boys A-1 race has NY Class A No. 8 Chaminade, Suffern and Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.). The boys A-2 race has three ranked teams — Tappan Zee, Port Washington and host St. Anthony's. The boys' small school race will see NY Class C No. 2 Bronxville, Lynbrook, Manhassett and Regis go at it.

The girls A-1 race has Cardinal Gibbons, Garden City, St. Anthony's, Suffern and Tappan Zee. The A-2 race has Friends Academy, Northport, Ridgefield (Conn.) and St. John the Baptist. The girls' small school race has NY Class C No. 1 Bronxville, Manhasset and Harborfields.

Top individuals entered include Bronxville's Mary Cain and Friends Academy's Kelsey Margey. Both are contenders for state titles and Foot Locker Nationals.

Tully Invitational

Ten races will be contested at Tully High School's mostly-flat course. The meet runs a single varsity race for boys and girls, but awards teams in both large and small school divisions. Last year CNS and Trumansburg won the boys races while Fayetteville-Manlius ran its girls' jayvee squad for the win in the large school. Tully won the small school girls.

Whitesboro Invitational

This small invitational in Utica, N.Y. usually has fewer than 10 teams in attendance on what sounds like a beatiful park — the Deerfield Wilderness Park.

NYRR Harry Murphy Classic

So you are usually watching your children run cross country races on Saturdays. We understand. But that leaves Sunday morning for yourself, right? So head over to Van Cortlandt Park for the Harry Murphy Classic and run the same 5,000-meter course that the high school kids do.

Born in Brooklyn, Harry Murphy (1914-93) co-founded the Prospect Park Track Club in 1970 and mentored scores of local runners. Celebrate his influence on the sport as you zip along the scenic trails of Van Cortlandt Park.

Sign in at the Tortoise and Hare statue, 248th Street and Broadway. Bathroom facilities are available here. Number pickup and registration will take place from 10 to 11 am.