Just as they did last Saturday, New Mexico's high school cross country crowd will be rising with the sun to great another glorious morning of racing. Photo by Tim Host.
Another weekend of cross country meets is nearly upon us. And the stakes are starting to get larger. As neighboring states Utah and Colorado wind down into their championship seasons, New Mexico's invitationals are still going strong--and figure to be for a couple more weeks beyond this one. We'll take a quick spin around the state to check in on what's happening this weekend. The number of meets this weekend is down, but the flip side of that is that the meets that are running will be larger meets.
NMMI Invitational - The southeastern community converges once again on Roswell, as the New Mexico Military Institute takes their turn at hosting. I'll take this opportunity to beat the drum for results reporting one more time. You send 'em, we'll post 'em!
Onate Invitational - One more week of these teams staying down in their own part of the state, then the rest of the state will get to see (at least part of) what's going on when several of these schools make the trip up to the Rio Rancho Jamboree. Onate has been looking powerful of late and figures to be ready to roll the show for their own invitational (also known as the Rob Winter Cross Country Classic). At this point, attendance at this one is looking like Alamogordo, Silver, Cobre, and the schools from the more or less immediate Las Cruces area.
Los Lunas and Cuba Invitationals - Both of these meets are somewhat centrally located in the state and figure to serve schools not involved in the Metro Championships. Los Lunas figures to draw larger schools and Cuba smaller schools.
Patason Amesoli Invitational - You once knew this meet as the Zuni Invitational. It goes by a new name now, honoring the memory of the 1920 Olympian from the Zuni tribe. Who's coming? Only most of western New Mexico, a couple of Arizona schools, East Mountain, and Santa Fe Prep. At nearly 20 schools, this is one of the largest cross country gatherings anywhere in the state this season. And it should be grand!
Metro Cross Country Championships- It's tough to ignore this one. This list of schools is slightly shorter than the Patason Amesoli list, but this one will undoubtedly boast the longest list of entries this weekend. And, if the results of the Albuquerque Academy Invitational a couple weeks back whetted your appetite, this one is where you go to get more of the same. Will it be as close between AA and Cleveland on the boys side again this weekend? Can Cleveland or St. Pius X push aside AA and Eldorado for top honors among the girls? Can Jenna Thurman defend her individual title? This is the place to find the answers to all of those questions, and more.
There's a big invitational in Arizona (Doug Conley) this weekend, but with all that's happening in New Mexico, don't look for many schools traveling out of state this weekend.