Rich Gonzalez
Editor, DyeStatCal
       For years, the Mt. SAC Cross-Country Invitational has been rightfully regarding as the largest (and in our opinion, the best) high school cross-country invitational in the nation, drawing hundreds of schools from mostly across the California landscape, although typically drawing squads from Arizona and Nevada as well. In addition, squads from North Carolina and Alabama have traversed state lines in the last two years to take on the Golden State's finest at the mid-October meet.
        The Mt. SAC meet has been a staple on many programs' calendars for years, but continues to grow in size where more and more Northern California teams make the trip. Such a meet offers a highly competitive tune-up for the state meet and an opportunity to view firsthand the best teams in their respective statewide divisions.
        That "supermeet" has spawned either the emergence or the growth of other supermeets statewide, with meets like the Stanford, Woodbridge, Mt. Carmel and Clovis invitationals all growing and prospering in recent years. This is not to suggest that these meets weren't already successfully, but each has surely further benefited from the expansion of the "travel meet concept" that many more coaches are buying into than was the case just 10 years ago. Many "supermeets" have grown by more than 50% in size in that time, while others have actually doubled their participation reach.
        The trend of the "supermeet" and the notion of the "travel meet" has also grown considerably on the national landscape in recent years, first due to the birth and emergence of the popular Great American Cross-Country Festival in the South (which moves from North Carolina to Alabama this Fall), then made more popular by the emergence of the Nike Team Nationals meet in 2004.
        In 2006, California schools are not only racing to Mt. SAC in search of competition in late season, but they are seeking major litmus tests in meets beyond state lines during other parts of the calendar. First and foremost, these contests will provide fun trips and special memories for California-based participants. Additionally, fine comptition will be waiting. Lastly, some of the more powerful teams will place themselves in position to boost their status in the rankings, be it the NTN rankings, the state rankings, or the sectional rankings. (By the way, if rankings really didn't matter, why are those pages the most popular on the DyeStatCal site, why does the public always yearn for them, and why are people always talking about them?)
          News has come forward that the Stanford Invitational will have a representative from the state of Ohio coming, the highly acclaimed and successfully La Salle HS program from the Cincinnati area. La Salle, a perennial statewide power hailing from the NTN Midwest Region, beat three NTN Southeast Region-ranked squads at last year's Great American while also traveling to other big meets. No doubt the crew will be looking to boost its national stock against the California, Oregon and Washington teams in attendance.
          On the out-of-state travel front, DyeStatCal has learned that Southern Section-based Trabuco Hills HS and the fine Oregon-based Central Catholic program are among the West Coast teams venturing to the Bob Firman Invitational in Boise, Idaho. The meet, which had a bevy of powerhouse teams in attendance last year, is expecting to grow further in stature this Fall.
          Clovis, among the leading teams in California entering 2006, will be making the trek eastward in October to compete at the Manhattan Invitational in New York, the nation's second-largest invitational. Most of the leading teams in the NTN Northeast Region typically participate in the meet.
          Saugus, one of the tops girls teams in California, is among the confirmed teams slated to take part in the highly popular Jim Danner Invitational in Oregon. Mater Dei participated in this meet last year.
          Additionally, California schools figure to be traveling to such traditional meets as the Hawaii-based Iolani (Carlmont is already confirmed) and Kamehameha (Capistrano Valley is confirmed) invitationals and the Las Vegas Invitational (Fountain Valley is confirmed) in Nevada.
          The Mt. SAC Invitational (with website info set to open on August 8th) has yet to disclose news of any out-of-state powers that will be attending in 2006, but the hope is that at least a few programs view the valuable opportunity for participating in such a high-level meet before their own respective state meets while others also view it as a great late-season chance to boost or re-boost their NTN regional ranking.
          Similarly, the monstrous Woodbridge Invitational has yet to release an official list of early team commitments, although it has forwarded an unofficial grouping (basically comprised of last year's participant list, assuming those will return while also hoping to attract new schools).
         Are any other California-based teams traveling out of state for major competition? Conversely, are any California meets playing host to outstanding out-of-state talent this Fall? If so, please let us know!