The former Castle View Invitational featured an all soft-surface course in a bucolic setting. The meet, and course, will be back in the fall of 2017 under a new name. Photo by Alan Versaw.
In 2013, 2014, and 2015, Castle View hosted a cross country meet on a much-loved course at the Polson Ranch property in Sedalia.
But, Castle View coach Mark Kuhn moved away to a new position late in 2015, and the meet appeared to have met its demise.
Appearances, however, can be deceiving. After a one-year hiatus, Douglas County coaches Alex Sarabia and Meredith Hoops are bringing the old Castle View Invitational back for next fall as the Polson Ranch Cross Country Invitational.
Sarabia and Hoops anticipate a field of around 20 teams, more if they go to two divisions.
The off-site parking and shuttle idea employed in 2015 will be replaced with a model that has athletes and spectators parking within easy walking distance of the course. Parking will now be mostly east of the course (toward Castle Rock, roughly). It is likely buses will need to drop athletes and park nearby, perhaps at the elementary school nearly adjacent to the property.
If you participated in one of the three editions of the meet, you already know that the congestion at the start area was the biggest ordeal the meet faced. Restarts became the norm as the popularity of the meet meant wedging more and more teams onto a constricted starting line. That issue is being addressed by moving the starting line a bit to near where the porta potties were formerly located. The photo below shows the proposed new start area, much wider than for former start area:
If you're a coach interested in having your name in the pool of teams to be part of the 2017 Polson Ranch Cross Country Invitational, please indicate your interest to:
Alex Sarabia: aasarabia@dcsdk12.org or Meredith Hoops: mehoops@dcsdk12.org
The tentative meet date is September 30th.