The 41st annual Spanish River Invitational cross country invitational is coming to South County Regional Park in Boca Raton Sept. 22 and 23.
Spanish River High School coach Doug Horn, who is also the meet director, said he is expecting about 120 teams and over 2,500 athletes between middle and high schools.
“We added middle school (division) a few years ago and it has become one of the bigger middle school meets in Florida,” he said. “It is the longest-standing meet that I know of in the state of Florida. (Former Spanish River head coach) Rick Rothman will be there to relish in his glory, which he deserves, for what he started 41 years ago.
“We are still pretty early in the season,” Horn said. “As I always say to the kids, ‘Nobody really cares what you are doing in September, you have to be ready by November.’ Our progression so far has been good. Our girls look pretty strong, and I am really proud of them for their hard work. Our boys are a very strong, deep team, and other than Belen Jesuit (Miami), who is a 3A team, I don’t think there is a team who has as much depth as we have.”
The Spanish River Invitational meet schedule starts on Friday:
- 4 p.m. JV boys 1A and 2A
- 4:30 p.m. JV girls 1A and 2A
- 5:05 p.m. 3K middle school boys
- 5:30 p.m. 3K middle school girls
- 6 p.m. varsity boys 1A and 2A
- 6:30 p.m. varsity girls 1A and 2A
Saturday’s schedule includes:
- 7:40 a.m. varsity 3A and 4A boys
- 8:05 a.m. varsity 3A and 4A girls
- 8:35 a.m. junior varsity 3A and 4A boys
- 9:05 a.m. junior varsity 3A and 4A girls
An awards ceremony will take place 15 minutes after the completion of the last race. There will be team awards for the top two teams in each classification ranging from Class 1A to Class 4A and first-place trophies for 1A/2A JV, 3A/4A JV and middle school.
The top individual boy and girl in each varsity classification race will receive a trophy, while medals will be awarded from second to 15th place in each varsity classification. A Best Young Runner award will go out to the fastest boy and girl in each varsity race (four awards total), ninth grade or younger.
Medals will be handed out from first to 15th place in both the JV and Middle School boys and girls races. The middle school race is a qualifying event for FLYRA championship series and is open to middle school teams and individuals from clubs.
The 5K meet records are held by John I. Leonard’s Ryan Pickering (14:57.67 in 2010) and Boca Raton’s Pia Beaulieu (17:12.86 in 2020). The 3K meet records are held by Belen Jesuit’s Marcelo Mantecon (10:11.10 in 2021) and Boca Warriors’ Alex Palekar (11:25:50 in 2021).
“I believe we are the only meet that breaks up the competition by classification,” Horn said. “We run 1A and 2A on Friday and 3A and 4A schools together on Saturday. We will then break up the results by class.”
Horn also said that the sport is still recovering from the pandemic. Spanish River had over 100 runners on his team the year before COVID-19 and then dropped to around 60. The Sharks are back up to 92 runners this season.
“We are trending the right way,” he said, “but us trending isn’t the end all, I want the whole area to see an increase in participation. That’s how we maintain a strong sport. We are really excited to have (six-time consecutive state champion) Belen at our meet. They are ranked fourth in the country, and they have great support.”
South County Regional Park is at 11200 Park Access Road.
