Wilsonville cross country is approaching its first real invitational of the season this weekend to get us back into some real 5K racing since COVID-19 put all big invitationals at a standstill. 

Our Wildcats will take the bus south to Eugene to race at the same location the 5A state championship will be held the first week of November. Lane Community College, a rather flat course with only a handful of sharp hills almost entirely on grass, will most likely be muddy on race day as there are extremely high chances of rain. 

The invitational will have 68 other high school teams and a noticeable team in Summit high school on the girls end, the Nike Cross National champions in 2018 and runners up in 2019 who went under the name of Central Oregon. 

But the team, especially the boys, all have their eyes on the 5A state champions in 2019: Ashland High School. Ashland dominated 2019 in 5A Oregon, and our Wildcats have their eyes on taking them down in 2021. 

Multiple runners on the varsity or top of JV, close to becoming varsity, are seniors this year, a much more veteran roster compared to 2019, with no seniors and only two juniors on the varsity line up. 

For these runners to be able to get a real season after COVID-19 took away a track season and cut the cross country and the next track season in half, the whole team is ready to go and throw down for the biggest invitational the team has run since 2019.