When I think of the most important meets in the state, whether it's cross country or track, I ask three questions. First, does the meet have a long history and deep roots in the high school running culture of North Carolina? Second, does the meet "own" its weekend, in the sense that everyone who pays attention knows exactly when it's going to be every year, and anyone who plans a different meet for that weekend knows what they're going up against? Third, is this the one meet that grabs our attention the most that weekend, the one from which everyone really wants to see results? Only a few meets can satisfy those criteria: Wendy's, the Greensboro Invitational, and the 4 Runners Only Carnival (if only because it's run on the state meet course) certainly do, and meets like the WNC Carnival, Providence Invitational, and the Adidas Challenge (formerly the Wolfpack) are getting close if not already there. And, of course, one other invitational answers "yes" to all three questions and, for many, really signifies the start of the major meet season.
The Meet: Seahawk Invitational
The 24th running of the Seahawk Invitational will proceed as planned on Saturday, as UNCW seemed to escape the major damage that other areas suffered from Hurricane Irene. In the words of Meet Director (and UNCW Assistant Coach) Layne Schwier, "It’s always nerve wracking watching the Weather Channel this time of year in this area." Kudos for spelling "wracking" correctly! Coach Schwier goes on to describe the philosophy behind the meet:
We aim to be as quality as possible and have strived to make improvements to the meet from year to year. Last year, the big change was the use of the ChronoTrack Tag Timing System which not only made it much more manageable on our side, but also for the athletes. No more chutes or backups at the finish line. We acquired a sponsor to help cover that cost so we didn’t have to pass that along to the teams. As you’ll see on the back of all of the t-shirts, Trusst Builders is the sponsor. Shawn Horton is an alumni of our program and he is one of the largest home builders who builds exclusively in Brunswick Forrest, a planned community across the river in Brunswick County.
Meet Records
Boys | Girls
(drawn from recent meets through the MileSplit database)
The Course: UNCW Campus
Flat, fast, and sandy. No, we're not talking about the Jungle Run again, it's a perfect description of UNCW's course. From the wide start with a long straight following, to the flat loops around athletic fields, and finishing with a long final stretch lined by screaming parents and teammates, this course is a launching pad. According to Coach Schwier, "The course has remained roughly the same year to year, starting and finishing on our school’s rec fields and wrapping around the various athletics facilities including the track area. We prefer to keep it on campus because we want these kids to see our campus. It adds to the atmosphere. We have had a number of athletes join our program over the years who commented that their first experience with UNCW was coming to this invite and I am sure that is the case for a lot of the runners. The course is rather simple to understand and from a spectator standpoint, it doesn’t get much better. You can stand at the top of the bleachers in the soccer stadium and see basically the entire course with the exception of when they go behind the baseball stadium. The start and finish straights are long. We’ve tried to give out great awards year to year as well."
So, how does UNCW stack up against its clone, the South View course? The answer is complicated, of course. In overall statistics, believe it or not, the Jungle Run is slower (which you can attribute to the stronger overall field at the Seahawk). However, for athletes who run both races, the Jungle Run times are definitely faster than the Seahawk times (comparison when run in the same year). Here are a few statistical snapshots, and you can judge for yourself.
Comparison of 2010 Seahawk to 2010 Jungle Run