Louisville, Ky. – The 58th Trinity Invitational cross country meet, the state’s oldest invitational cross country meet – and one of the nation’s largest – will be held at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville Sept. 20-21.
On Friday evening, Sept. 20, grade school runners will compete, with more than 1,400 students ranging from first through eighth grade.
The high school portion of the event will commence at 9 a.m. with boys’ JV races. The boys’ varsity race will start at 10:20 a.m., with nearly 60 schools from six states participating. A freshman race will start at 11:40 a.m.
The total number of competitors in all races combined is approximately 1,800. Last year, 11 individuals and/or teams emerged as state champions following the Trinity Invitational, along with the fastest individual time in the nation at the meet, and six of the nation’s top 50 times.
The Trinity Invitational is sponsored by Nike this year, and is one of only a handful of high school events sponsored by the company. Gatorade also has emerged as a major sponsor, giving the event additional national notoriety.
“The Trinity Invitational has become a festival of running, seeing some of our nation’s fastest harriers, as well as our most beginning runners all in one venue,” remarked Trinity head cross country coach Chad Waggoner. “It’s a celebration of the human spirit in team competition, and brings together runners from six states to inspire and motivate all who get to be part of the event.”
Sacred Heart Academy will host its Valkyrie Invitational in tandem with the Trinity Invitational, although the two meets are separate. The schools assist each other in various organizational aspects of the two meets.
Here are the national rankings of just some of the teams from Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina who are competing in the Trinity Invitational:
Dyestat’s National preseason ranked men’s teams:
9. Carmel (Carmel, Ind.) – Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) 11th place; NXN-Midwest runner-up; Indiana Champion
12. Brentwood (Brentwood, Tenn.) – NXN-Southeast fourth place; Tennessee Class 3-A champion
18. Needham Broughton (Raleigh, N.C.) – NXN-Southeast ninth place; North Carolina Class 4-A Champion
21. William Mason (Mason, Ohio) – NXN-Midwest 14th place; Ohio Division 1 state runner-up
31. Hilliard Davidson (Hilliard, Ohio) – NXN-Midwest 15th place; Ohio Division 1 state fifth place
36. St. Xavier (Cincinnati, Ohio) – NXN 9th place; NXN-Midwest third place; Ohio Division 1 champion
States and ranked teams represented from those states:
Indiana – No. 1
Ohio – Nos. 1-4
West Virginia – No. 1
Tennessee – No. 1 among public schools, No. 1 among private schools
North Carolina – No. 1
