The crowded field as the competitors make an early pass by the bridge is a signature moment of the Pueblo Central Invitational. Photo by Alan Versaw.
There are still a few of us around who went to one or more state meets at Pueblo's Elmwood Golf Course. That wouldn't include anybody currently in high school, however, so the deep-into-history attachment some of us feel to this meet is definitely a matter for coaches and a few parents, but not for the athletes.
To be sure, a lot of athletes like the course and venue, but not because they ran in a state meet, watched somebody run in a state meet, or coached a state meet there. The grass, abundant shade, long, flat, and straight start and finish stretches, and spectator-friendly layout of the course make this a very pleasant place to be in the middle of September.
Back in the day--and at least partly because it was the preview meet for the state course--the Pueblo Central Invitational pulled teams in from all across the state. The multi-division meet featured the best teams, the best talent, and the best competition to be found anywhere in Colorado prior to the state meet.
After the state meet had moved from Pueblo, and the meet had dwindled to a more manageable size, meet management retained the feature of this being a varsity-only event. As if that wasn't reason enough for a lot of schools to drop the meet, for a few years it seemed as if meet management simply didn't care about putting on a quality meet.
As a result of those two factors, the Pueblo Central Invitational had one foot in the grave with the other slipping fast as recently as about six years ago. Teams that had attended this meet for decades were dropping it from their schedule as fast as they could find a replacement.
Somebody, however, found the passion and energy necessary to turn this thing around. The meet has been on a solid, steady rebound for at least the last four years. It will probably never again be one of the state's largest meets, but it's once again more than worth the time and effort to make the trip. And, at 53 years and counting, it ranks as one of the oldest meets in the state. It just might be the longest continuously operating meet in the state!
The meet has undergone a few upgrades in recent years, the most prominent of which is the conversion to chip timing. There will be four high school races this year. Large school varsity programs run first, followed by small schools mixed with the sub-varsity programs of the larger schools.
Making the trip this year should be: all Pueblo City and Pueblo County schools, Custer County, Centauri, Pagosa Springs, Canon City, Florence, Rocky Ford, Lamar, La Junta, Harrison, Mesa Ridge, Fountain-Fort Carson, Vanguard, St. Mary's, Manitou, TCA, Palmer Ridge, Lewis-Palmer, Widefield, Chaparral, Palmer, and possibly a couple more. It's also possible a few of these schools are sending only sub-varsity teams.
Depending on who suits up, the boys racing could get very competitive between the likes of Palmer Ridge, Lamar, Widefield, Vanguard, Chaparral, and a couple more of these teams. A very large portion of the field that went at it in hammer-and-tongs fashion at last week's St. Vrain Invitational is back on the starting line for this one (which, presumably, will run faster than the St. Vrain). The competition among the girls teams doesn't appear to be quite as feverish in intensity, but there are some solid programs, and individuals, showing up just the same.
There is also a nice middle school meet run on a two-mile course immediately after the high school races are complete. While the competition tends to be mostly from the Pueblo area, a few out-of-county middle school programs have been known to drop in on this meet.