Trojan Invitational off and running today with 17 schools participating

By Barry Byers - Barry Byers

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Cross country gets fired up today at Northwestern, with the Trojan Invitational at 9 a.m.

There will be four races -- varsity boys and girls and two junior varsity races.

"There are 17 schools from the Carolinas that entered, and it should be a great morning of racing," Northwestern coach Calvin Hudgins said.

Featured will be several of South Carolina's premier teams, including Northwestern and Fort Mill.

Fort Mill's Mark Blackmon, a freshman, won the Class AAAA boys state championship last fall, and his team is ranked No. 7 in the state. Northwestern's boys are No. 5.

Fort Mill's girls are ranked No. 4 in the Class AAAA poll and Northwestern No. 10.

The meet features several of the state's top 10 runners.

Blackmon is ranked No. 1.

Rock Hill's girls team includes the state's No. 3 Class AAAA runner, Hannah Robinson. Fort Mill's Quanika Blackmon is No. 9.

South Pointe, Chester and Lancaster are also in the field.

• RANKINGS: The South Carolina Track and Cross Country Coaches Association preseason team and individual polls are out.

• VOLLEYBALL: The SC.PrepCountry Volleyball Coaches Association has released it preseason poll for Class AAAA schools.

According to the association's Web site, the coaches will include the other classifications in coming weeks.

• WAY TO GO: South Pointe's Bernice Woodard, senior sports writer on the Stallions' newspaper staff, has been picked as a finalist to be South Carolina's student reporter at this year's Shrine Bowl game in Spartanburg on Dec. 13-20.

The student selected will be part of the team and will get the same benefits as the players.

The next hurdle for Woodard is to submit a story of 200 words or fewer on a person behind the scenes in South Pointe's athletics department. She must also submit, in 350 words or fewer, why she should be chosen.

North Carolina will also have a student reporter. Both will do daily reports that will be handed out to their teams the next day.