Agreed!!! I think (?) it was the largest invitational this year as well.TheCrazyChemist wrote:Rustin is also pretty competitive, although it's farther than Ohio. Its usually where most of the competitive northeastern teams go as well as lower tier northeastern teams.dholdgreve wrote:Pomo,SOPomo wrote:
It's something I've considered doing with my team. We're a middle-third NorCal B team, but I honestly don't know what that means compared to other states so I always toy with the idea of fundraising enough to go to another state that's a middle-third Nats competitor and getting away from all these CA powerhouses for a tournament. Awards can sound pretty monotonous at times when it's "Miller, Kraemer, Churchill, Kennedy, and a B team of those four for 5th place" and so I'd like to see somewhere else. Washington placed 17th this year, Colorado 27th... maybe there's an invite there we could make. The Vegas one is only C this coming year. I don't think it'd be much more than the multi-day charter bus / Six Flags trip we do to SoCal each year.
Anyway, I agree that most schools don't have a powerhouse fundraiser like me working their teams. Would be nice to see more cross country competition. If for no other reason than because SO will never let a 3rd team go from a state so nobody gets to see just how strong a Churchill type team really is except for us Californians.
If you are looking for some relatively stiff competition outside your home state, save up a little $ and head to Dayton Ohio, home of the Centerville B & C Invitational. It is the level of Nationals or above.
Other than distance issues, Rustin is a pretty solid invy.