The Seahawk Invitational, with its high level of individual and team competition, headlines a big weekend of competition.

Featured Meet: adidas Seahawk Invitational (UNC-Wilmington)

Coverage by CoachGeorgeRJR

In some ways, this meet tells us that the truly competitive portion of the season has begun.  In short order, we will be looking at the last few weeks of invitationals, and preparing for the championship season to arrive.  In the meantime, though, we have a series of classic, "cornerstone" meets to watch, events that have been a part of our state's running culture for long enough to become fixtures.  The Seahawk Invitational is one of those, a tradition made even stronger by the large number of teams that use the weekend for a bonding beach trip.  The competition is very serious at this meet (which should get even better with the championship races going first this year), and the flat, fast course produces strong early-season times.  Here are some of the themes and questions that you can look for in this year's edition of the Seahawk Invitational:

• How strong will Broughton look?  This is the 5K invitational debut for the Caps this season, with their boys expected to win pretty much every meet they attend until the national postseason comes around.

• Individually, it looks like Ryan Brady (East Chapel Hill) could find himself in a pack of Broughton runners at the front of the boys' championship race.  Brady has already had a strong race this season, and should be able to hang with William Roberson and his teammates.

• How many guys will break 16 minutes?  Typically, the only thing that holds back times at this meet is the strong sun over the entire course; that should improve for the championship race, as it goes first this year.  There are four athletes in the race that have already broken 16, but the UNCW course tends to run as much as 30 seconds slower than the Jungle Run or the Providence Invitational.

• We might leave with a little more clarity on the Raleigh-area schools, as Apex, Leesville Road, and Green Hope are all in this meet, and all looking to advance from the Mideast 4A to the state meet later this year.

• Broughton's girls are also strong, and should be closer to full strength now than they were at the Bay Six Kickoff Classic.  Providence and Green Hope will square off for a second time already this season, and as all three of these teams get their full rosters engaged and running (which hasn't happened yet for any of them) we will get a better picture of how the 4A race is shaping up.

• The girls' championship individual race could be stellar.  Megan Sullivan (Broughton) is getting back into racing form after some time off this summer (traveling, not hurt), and she faces a tough pair of competitors in Grace Sullivan (Providence) and Sydney Foreman (Ardrey Kell).  If Providence's Bianca Bishop returns from injury (which is hopefully soon if it is not this weekend), it might be too much to ask for her to get right in the thick of things, but she would boost her team's chances.  

• There will most likely be a gap behind those three, but the chase pack in the girls' championship race could be interesting to watch.  Maysa Araba now leads a Carrboro team that lost a lot to graduation, but still retains a tradition of hard work and success.  She could find herself battling teammate Helen Morken, Kayla Glova (Providence), Jennifer Stephenson (Village Christian), and several other girls who ran sub-19 last year.

• The Pinecrest girls can really solidify their place among the top 5 teams in the state with a good performance here.  After Green Hope, Providence, Broughton, and the Patriots, the team talent drops off a bit; that could allow a smaller team like Carrboro or Bishop McGuinness to make a run at the top 5.

• Which Wilmington-area team will come out on top?  The girls teams from Laney, Hoggard, and New Hanover have all started the season well, and based on this year's times they rank 6th, 7th, and 8th coming into the meet.  On the boys' side, Hoggard has been the best this season, but Ashley and New Hanover are close behind.  You know these teams want to defend their home turf and start the bragging-rights battle off well!

Race Assignments (on the meet page)

Meet Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Course Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Cannon Invitational (Cannon School, Concord)

Coverage by pvan537

This meet has become a favorite for schools that like the course to provide as much challenge as the competition.  The boys' course record is 16:25 here, and no girl has ever broken 19 minutes (and some very talented runners have tried).  That means we can learn a lot about the fitness and strength of the teams competing, even if the times don't compare well to other meets.  This meet also draws an interesting mix of private schools, small charter schools, and larger public schools (all the way up to 4A programs).

Meet Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Course Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

SCSDB Eye-Opener Invitational (Roger Millikan Center, Spartanburg, SC)

Coverage by hyperionxc

One of the biggest meets of the year in upstate South Carolina, and the easy access via I-85 and I-26 makes North Carolina teams a regular feature here.  The meet is huge, with multiple races, and the competition level is very high, so you can see the attraction.  Here are a few of the NC-related story lines to follow in this event:

• Can Providence Day go toe-to-toe with South Carolina's best boys' teams?  The Chargers competed well against North Carolina 3A powers Cardinal Gibbons and Chapel Hill two weekends ago, and this might turn out to be an even stronger test.

• How will the second battle between Ben Huffman and Tanis Baldwin (East Henderson) go?  Baldwin got the upper hand at the WNC Carnival two weeks ago.

• Can the impressive starts by the Asheville and Carson boys, both currently ranked in the top 10 for 3A, continue against this deep and varied field?

• The same question applies to West Forsyth, whose boys and girls both sit at #11 in the 4A rankings.

• How will the Providence Day girls stack up against this field, particularly against some of the powerful South Carolina private schools?

Meet Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Course Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Western Carolina HS/MS Invitational (WCU, Cullowhee)

A solid meet on a challenging course that is accessible to teams in the far western portion of the state, where they take their cross country pretty seriously.  Although it's a hike for anyone further east than Charlotte, it would be very interesting to get out to this meet and see the competition live at some point.

Meet Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Course Records: Boys | Girls

(From the MileSplit database)

Myers Park XC Invitational (Myers Park High School, Charlotte)

This course is tough, but if you like trail running this could be a fun meet.  A mid-sized invitational with a prretty strong mix of teams, and like the Cannon Invitational this one could tell us a lot about the fitness of the runners.

North Forsyth Cross Country Invitational (North Forsyth High School, Winston-Salem)

A "new" meet (the school has hosted invitationals in the past, but not for several years) on an interesting course that includes campus fields, wooded trails, and an adjoining soccer complex.

Knights Invitational (Red Oak Middle School, Rocky Mount)

This new meet could be an interesting look at teams from the northeastern part of the state, where NCRunners doesn't get much in the way of results sometimes.