Bob Firman Will Provide Early Season Reveal In Northwest

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

A big contingent from Utah will collide with Northwest powers in the featued races Saturday at the Bob Firman Invitational at Eagle Island Park, west of Boise. 

The over-lapping storylines in this meet will mark it as one of the most significant of the weekend across the U.S.

As Utah begins its slow march toward the state championships -- the first to happen in the Lower 48 states (Oct. 23) -- Bob Firman serves as a strong mid-season test and another chance for comparison. Roughly half of the elite fields are from Utah. 

Teams in the Northwest are just getting started, especially in Washington, but the chance to run on the NXR Northwest course is a draw for schools hoping to make the meet a dress rehearsal for November. 

* Note: RunnerSpace on-demand videos from the Bob Firman Invitational will be available after the meet. 2018 VIDEOS | Sign up for +PLUS

The individual battles in both elite races will go a long way in revealing where the talent truly lies. 

The elite girls race features four teams in the Sept. 19 DyeStat regional rankings. Northwest No. 2 North Central WA is opening, Northwest No. 3 Boise ID is returning to the site of its greatest victory in 2018, and Northwest No. 4 Eagle ID gets its first shot at Boise. Lone Peak, the top team in Utah, is Southwest No. 4, and comes in on the heels of a big win at the BYU Autumn Classic. 

The individual race is compelling. Mattalyn Geddes of Twin Falls ID was fourth in last year's race before going on to take ninth at Nike Cross Nationals. 

Ashley LaJocies of Eagle, fifth in 2018, and will join her team, and front-running Lizzie Dildine, for the first time this season. 

Allie Janke of North Central was sixth in last year's race and teammate Erinn Hill was 11th. 

Carlee Hansen of Woods Cross UT showed her mettle by winning the BYU Autumn Classic last weekend and looks like the top runner in Utah. 

Lexy Halladay of Mountain View was the 2017 champion and is a threat to win almost any race she enters. 

And Oregon's contribution to the meet, Lincoln High of Portland, features freshman Kate Peters, one of the top newcomers in the country who is eager to see where she falls in the Northwest hierarchy. 

The elite boys field includes Northwest No. 3 Lewis and Clark, from Spokane, led by Wil Smith, taking on Northwest No. 4 Tahoma WA, and Southwest No. 4 Corner Canyon UT. 

Corner Canyon is a team with national championship aspirations if it can regain the services of transfer Easton Allred, but for now the team is led by the capable Mark Boyle. 

Talented Idaho runners Nathan Green of Borah and Stetson Moss of Thunder Ridge are Nike Cross Nationals vets who are out to protect home turf and gain a measure of comfort on a course that is vitally important to their seasons. Green was third in last year's race. 

However, they all might be chasing Skyline's Thomas Boyden, who was sixth at Bob Firman a year ago and his been the most impressive runner in Utah this season. Boyden beat Moss by 32 seconds at the Murray Invitational in Utah on Sept. 6. Another Utah talent to watch is Porter Whitworth, who was fourth in last year's meet. 

Wyoming's top runner, Peter Visser of Star Valley, is also in the mix.

Joshua Armstrong of Hurricane UT and Mitchell Athay of Idaho Falls finished 11th and 12th, respectively, in last year's race.