Blockbuster fields on hand at Bob Firman 

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor 

y Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

The course at Eagle Island State Park west of Boise has undergone an adjustment in the offseason and so there is some understandable curiosity among teams in Northwest about how that’s going to affect the NXN regional in November.

But as far as Saturday’s Bob Firman Invitational goes, it’s the teams from California (Great Oak) and the Southwest (Utah powers Davis and American Fork) that help drive the quality of the field to the discussion of best-ever in meet history.

Great Oak, which came north to dominate at the Nike Pre-Nationals last year in Portland, is likely to get a test – at least on the boys side – from US#6 Davis and US#7 North Central WA. (Great Oak began the season US#8 in the DyeStat preseason rankings).

That’s three teams from the preseason Top 10 -- something that hasn't happened anywhere in the country so far this season. Additionally, the field includes top teams like Tahoma WA, Bozeman MT, Crater OR, Timpanagos UT and Mountain View ID. Individually, Great Oak's top trio of Spencer Dodds, Isaac Cortes and Cole Spencer faces Bellarmine Prep's Jack Yearian, North Central's Justin Janke, Ogden UT's Alek Parsons, and Laramie WY's Chris Henry.

“I think we’re back up to that level where we were about four years ago when we had a boys meet that was really stacked,” meet directory Ryan Canning said.

The US#1 Great Oak girls are expected to run its varsity seven and mark the season debut of US#1 individual Destiny Collins, who went deep into the summer with her track season and competed at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia.

Great Oak will go for two invitational championships in a single day. It's second sevens will travel to the Dana Hills Invitational with a chance to win there as well.

Again, it’s the Utah teams, preseason US#6 American Fork (AF is sending girls only) and US#9 Davis, which will test a team that may prove to be one of the best in California history. Bozeman MT, Redondo Union CA, Mountain View ID and Palmer Ridge CO. Sophomore Bryn Morley from Bigfork MT figures to have an impact on the girls race, individually.

“Across the boards, this is absolutely the biggest (Bob Firman) we’ve had,” Canning said.

The alterations to the course were caused by the paving of a new road through the area of the park where the cross country course starts. All that changed was a revamp of the start area, which also led to a gentler first turn.

“We’re happy with it,” Canning said. “At the end of the day, it’s a really good change. The first 300 meters are different, with a softer curve and more straightaway. It actually removes one of the problems that people have complained about.”

The beginning of the new curve starts gently at 185 meters, sweeps around a large bend, and then there are 200 meters of straightaway that come after.

It’s enough of a course change that Canning said he will have to retire the course records.

Note: RunnerSpace will be on-site recording all the race videos from the meet. Another way to access what’s going on at Bob Firman will be through DyeStat’s Snapchat account. North Central senior Justin Janke is doing a Snapchat takeover and will provide glimpses behind the scenes at the meet. His takeover begins on Friday at Noon Mountain time for the course run-through. Find the username DyeStat_com on the Snapchat app.