Fort Steilacoom Invitational

General Information

I would like to invite you and your team to take part in this year’s Fort Steilacoom Invitational Cross Country meet. Now in our eleventh year, the Fort Steilacoom Invitational has grown to become one of the premier meets in Western Washington.  The meet is run on the trails of historic Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood Washington, and typically features over 50 teams from Washington and Oregon. Besides a great day of racing, we offer:

A free 2 kilometer race for middle school and youth athletes.

Complete results for all teams (complete results are also posted on the athletic.net, watfxc.com, and fortsteilacoominvite.com). We will submit results to your the News Tribune, Olympian, Seattle Times and also local paper as well if you give us their contact information.

• Reasonably priced T-Shirts.

• Coffee, Doughnuts, Beverages and Pizza for coaches.

• Two team divisions for prizes (small school-B's/1A/2A & large school-3A/4A)

• Event T-shirts for winning teams

• Random prizes from Brooks & South Sound Running

• A community race for coaches, parents, and anyone else wanting to run.

Course: The course is 5000 meters entirely within Ft. Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. Both the start and finish are in the grassy area by the “historic” barns and “not very historic” maintenance shed. The first mile is generally flat and open. There is a hill at about 1 ¼ miles, and another hill around 2 ¼  miles. Both hills are followed by a corresponding downhill. The last mile has a long gradual downhill followed by a flat finish. The majority of the course is grass and dirt trails, with a little bit of gravel road thrown in for variety. There is a small amount of pavement (less than 5%). This is a good viewing course. The runners are in full view for most of the first mile, the middle, and again most of the last mile. With just a little bit of walking, coaches can see their runners for about 70% of the course. The course is wide open, with plenty of room to race, and with terrain for both “strength” & “speed” runners. Those runners who lose their focus can enjoy the fall foliage, the scenic & historic barns, and a lovely view of Mt. Rainier over Lake Waughop. Spikes are recommended.

The Format

Varsity Races: The boys and girls varsity races will be held in three flights. The first flight will be for the # 5, 6, & 7 runners. The second flight will be for the # 2, 3, & 4 runners. The final flight will have the # 1 runners. Each girl's flight will start approximately 5-7 minutes after the boy's flight (once the boys pass through the start/finish area) Girls must come to the starting line immediately once the boys race starts.

Scoring: We use traditional cross country scoring. Our scoring software (Raceberry Jam) merges the times from the three varsity flights together. Individual placing and and team results are based on the pacing once the flights have been merged.

Community/Youth Races: Prior to the varsity races will be an open race for coaches, family, and open runners. The cost of the open race is $5.00. Ribbons will be awarded for the top 20 males and females in the open race. There is also a 2k youth race for runners up to 8^th grade. All participants will in the youth race receive a ribbon, with additional ribbons for the top 20 places. * Current high school runners competing in the open race for whatever reason should not wear their team issued uniform to avoid cpotential onflict with WIAA rules and eligibility.

Junior Varsity Races: The boys JV “fives” race features the top 5 JV runners from each team and was added to alleviate the size of the boys JV race.  There will be an additional boys Junior Varsity race after the varsity flights for the remainder of the JV boys. The JV girls race will be the final race of the day. This is to allow for time to compile results.  The top ten in each boys JV race will receive ribbons. Since there is only one JV girls race, there will be ribbons for the top 20 finishers (An additional JV “fives” race will be added for girls if the numbers warrant splitting the races.)  The JV races will not be scored. * If the projected girls JV field becomes large enough to warrant it, an additional girls JV “fives” race will be added.

Entrance Fee: Entry fees will be $100.00 per school. This covers both the boys and girls teams. If you only enter one team, the entry is $80.00. Cost for the open race will be $5.00.

Awards: There will be two divisions for awards this year, large school and small school. Large school will contain schools in the 3A/4A classification, and Small School will comprise of schools in the 1A/B & 2A schools. The top 3 boy’s & girl’s teams from each division will receive team and individual awards (this may be increased to the top 5 depending on entry numbers). There will be an additional award for the top combined boys and girls team based on team score. This is an “all classification award”. Medallions will be awarded to the top 10 with ribbons for 11-20^th place in the varsity race (regardless of flight). The top 10 in each of the boys JV races\s and top 20 in the girls JV race will receive ribbons (there are two flights for boys to reduce the size of the field but there will be an equal number of ribbons for boys and girls). Place ribbons will be given in the open & youth races.