Weekend Preview: The Top Five Meets To Watch Around The U.S.

INDEX:

When: September 10th and 11th

Where: VVS High School Verona, NY

The V-V-S Invitational isn't one of the biggest meets in the nation or even in the state of New York, but it is an important early season  proving ground for many New York teams from the Central part of the state.

Many of these are teams we've come to know on the national stage over the years, including Fayetteville-Manlius, Liverpool, and Tully.

This year's race will be interesting as it will feature three different sessions taking place over two days. One session takes place on Friday night and the other two sessions will run on Saturday morning and afternoon. Nonetheless, it will still be interesting to see how some of these New York teams look.

The big teams to keep an eye on here are Fayetteville-Manlius and Cicero-North Syracuse. A team from FM has made Team Nationals every year since it's been held. The girls squad has won the most team nationals titles in history, accumulating titles in 11 out of 14 years. The Hornets' most recent title was in 2017. 

The FM girls entered the preseason at No. 15th on the Milesplit50 rankings. The team will feature a talented freshman in Izzy Sullivan, who ran a 20:01.90 for 5K when she was just an 8th grader. The Hornets also have strong upperclassmen leadership in Hannah Kaercher and Debbie Lucchetti.  Kaercher, a junior, holds a 5K cross country PR of 18:13.20, while the senior Lucchetti holds a 5K cross country PR of 19:26.30. Lucchetti's PR actually comes from Team Cross Country Nationals in 2019. 

The last time the V-V-S Invitational was run, the ladies from FM swept the top four spots and scored 17 points to take the win. That was two years ago in 2019 and three of those top five graduated. This year's race will be a good starting point for the Hornets to see where they might stand nationally. This team historically gets stronger as the season progresses.

Another team that is ranked sixth in New York who could mix things up are the ladies from Cicero-North Syracuse. Kate Putman will be the one to watch for the Northstars as she is ranked third in New York state. The junior ran two 139 speed ratings during the shortened 2020 cross country season. 

Another individual to watch on the girls side will be Carthage's (NY) McKinley Fielding. Fielding is ranked fourth in the state of New York and ran a 138 speed rating in 2020 at the Northeast XC Championships. She placed eighth in that race in 18:07.4. In 2020, she ran 17:14.34 outdoors at the GSTC HS Fall Showcase #1.  

The boys race will also feature FM, which will look to have a strong season opener; New York State Class D powerhouse Beaver River will also contend. Beaver River's Colton Kempney will look to make a statement in season-opening performance. As a sophomore, he competed at Team Nationals and placed 37th overall in 15:41.90. He's currently ranked fifth in New York state after sitting out most of the 2020 season. 

• 2021 V-V-S Invitational Meet Page
• Teams Attending