In an effort to give Cross Country teams in the greater Mercer County area a chance to compete in a local season opener, West Windsor-Plainsboro North Coach Brian Gould and the Athletic Dept. went out and created the Knight Invitational complete with a new fan friendly course. Said Gould, “Our reason for having this meet was actually simple. There really was no season opener locally. We had been traveling pretty far to get our invitational season underway. We really thought it made sense to get something started in this area.” Pointing to the recent upswing in XC in Mercer, Gould continued, “The competition in Mercer County has continued to improve over the past few years so we figured no better place to start than at home.”The meet which kicks off this Saturday (9/8) at 8:00am is a Class Meet, pitting runners in the same grades against each other over a short course (2 miles). Asked about the reason for a class meet over a short course, Coach Gould responded, “It’s funny that you ask this because until recently I never was a fan of class meets. When we started to kick ideas around for this race I looked at the Cherokee Challenge and I started to see a lot of positives in a class meet. For one I think that in your junior and senior races you open up the field for a better race. When you cut the field down by 75% you open up the course and let the best of the best get out there and just run.” Additionally, Gould made the point that, “What I really like about the class race is that it gives the young kids a chance to WIN. I learned from my high school coach (Bob Ayton, Hatboro-Horsham) that one of the most important pieces of developing young runners is teaching them to win. I am a strong believer that in order to do that these kids need to be given an opportunity to get out front and be the big dogs for a day.”
The other innovative feature developed for the Knight Invitational is a new circuit type layout which will make the races easy to watch. “The course is modeled after the international style circuit courses.” Gould said. “We are using a one mile loop that runners will cover twice in order to complete the 2 mile race. It is all grass with the exception of a small asphalt path (about 4 feet wide) that runners will pass twice (once each loop).” With the backing of the WW-P North AD and the grounds keeping crew the course, which did not exist 2 months ago became a reality. “The course is flat and fast, but I believe that it will be challenging. It is mostly open, with about a quarter mile back in the woods along the Millstone River. Our AD and grounds people out here have been unbelievably supportive. They built it just for the race.”Gould definitely wants the meet to become an annual event and spoke about his expectations for the first edition. “I would like to see 10-12 teams on each side for the first year. Everyone over here really believes in this race.” The enthusiastic Coach concluded, “Our goal is to create an event that will become THE season opening meet in Central Jersey.”