It's Labor Day weekend, the traditional opening of the cross country season in Colorado!
The action begins on Thursday afternoon and, once it begins, it won't let up until midday on Saturday.
On the college level, you have your choice of three meets in Colorado and one just across the border in Wyoming. All four of these meets will be drawing Colorado-based teams.
On Friday, several Division II programs will take the course at Monument Valley Park in Colorado Springs for the second annual UCCS Rust Buster Invitational. Action starts at 4:30 PM with the open race. The women's varsity 4K starts at 5:15 PM, followed by the men's varsity 6K at 5:45 PM. Also in the afternoon, the University of Wyoming hosts their invitational at the Jacoby Golf Course in Laramie.
On Saturday, you can take in the CU Alumni/Open Time Trial at Buffalo Ranch on the south end of Boulder or you can travel to Cattails Golf Course just north of Alamosa to take in the Joe Vigil Invitational hosted by Adams State College. Either one promises you a low-key look at a premier program or two.
The high school action gets a little bit of a head start on Thursday. University, Rocky Ford, and Vista Ridge are each hosting small to medium-sized invitationals on Thursday.
The action gets a little more serious on Friday afternoon with the Arapahoe Warrior Invitational at DeKoevend Park in Littleton. It was here that Joseph Manilafasha and Allie McLaughlin kicked off their spectacular seasons last fall. This meet always brings in a nice selection of large school programs. Also on Friday are the Horizon and Pat Patten (Boulder) Invitationals. Horizon tends to be the lower key of the two races, running a 4K race on opening weekend. Pat Patten gets athletes introduced to a challenging course right out of the gate; this meet is held at Viele Lake Park, adjacent to Fairview High School. An interesting aspect of this meet is that Boulder and Fort Collins should be locking horns here on opening weekend.
And, on Saturday, it's the showpiece of opening weekend--the Poudre School District Pre-State meet at Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins. This will easily be the biggest meet of the weekend and, as pre-state meets tend to be, this one should be a bona fide adrenaline fest. Delta and Brighton also have meets on the schedule for the opening Saturday. Expect a wide selection of western slope programs and fast times at the Delta Invitational. Several southern Colorado and northern New Mexico high school programs will also be in attendance at the Joe Vigil Invitational in Alamosa.