McQuaid Invitational

Yesterday I posted the link to the McQuaid Invitational site. This is the 47th edition of this storied invitational, meaning it was first run in 1965. I was actually a competitor in 1979 and 1980, and have attended over 25 of the editions. I still get excited as the day approaches.

Our race times are as follows:
1:03pm - Sophomore Boys (this race includes all of our 9th graders as well)
2:26pm - Varsity "B" GIrls
(2:50pm - the Spry Boys)
(3:26pm - the Spry Girls)
3:38pm - Varsity Boys
3:58pm - Varsity Girls
4:45pm - Varsity "B" Boys


Also, do not miss the race at 4:22pm - it is the large school seeded Varsity Boys race and will feature a battle between Shaker (ranked #3 in the state) and R-H (ranked #4 in the state). They were ranked 1-2 in the state in the preseason, but an injury set Shaker back and R-H seems to be biding their time for now, and not putting their best feet forward, so F-M and Arlington have slipped by. It will be interesting to see what kind of statement the teams make this weekend.

With the rain we've had, and more to come, the course will not be as blazing fast as usual, but in XC times don't really matter. So, this just makes it more of a test of who is toughest!

I haven't had time to do detailed analyses of the races, but I will mention a few facts, starting with the girls varsity race. The very top teams in the state are not making the trip, or are in the AA (medium school race) - #4 Burnt Hills, #6 East Aurora, #15 Mendon. But, of the 18 teams in the "seeded" girls race, 9 were mentioned in the Tullyrunners preseason rankings, including:
#5 Canandaigua (solid lineup)
#13 HF-L (3 elite runners)
#14 Penfield (Katie / Leila is one of the best combos in the state)
#19 Fairport (defending champs, but Ashton Hughes not her former self, so far this year)
#23 Ithaca (3rd in this race last year)
#24 Rush-Henrietta (seriously under-ranked, especially in invitational scoring)
#26 Warwick Valley
#33 Clarence (ranked #1 in Section VI - Buffalo area - large schools, again)
#38 Elmira


The 9 not mentioned include:
Hilton (#7 in Section V)
Frontier (#3 in Section VI)
Orchard Park (#5 in Section VI)
Williamsville North (#7 in Section VI)
Corning - frequent state meet attendee from Section IV (Binghamton area)
Union-Endicott
Liverpool (4th last year) frequent runner-up to F-M in Section III (Syracuse area)
West Genesee (8th in this race last year)
Webster Schroeder


Can we prove ourselves top 10 material in a field this deep?

Our boys will be in the "unseeded" race with 21 teams. Clarence, ranked #12 in the state for Class A, is dropping down to win in the small pond. In fact, it seems that all of Section 6 is afraid of the large seeded race. Here is what we have for their large schools: #1 Starpoint - seeded Medium race; #2 Clarence; #3 Lockport, #4 Canisius and #5 Lancaster, #7 Frontier - all in our race. And the "ranked" local teams in our race include #7 Hilton, #9 Fairport and HM Irondequoit (punished for "loafing" the Cougar Invite) and Penfield.

It will be interesting to see how we rate against this field. Many of the teams in the race will be right at our level.

Our other races will be very large (3 of the 4 largest races of the day), with the following numbers entered:
Sophomore Boys - 452
Varsity B GIrls - 454
Varsity B Boys - 479