The 23rd annual Kiwanis Invitational takes place Saturday at Kennison Field in Hermiston, with 14 schools from Oregon and Washington scheduled to attend.
The Kiwanis, which comes one week after the Pasco Invite on the schedule, is one of the bigger invitationals in the Mid-Columbia, and this year it falls exactly four weeks before the big-school state meets.
That puts it at the perfect spot on the training schedule for athletes to begin finding the form they hope will put them on the medals podium a month from now.
The host school swept the team titles last year for the fifth straight year.
-- Hermiston senior Michelle Coombs signed a letter of intent Tuesday with Eastern Washington University.
Coombs threw the javelin 155 feet, 10 inches, last week at the Aloha Relays to move into third place on the all-time Mid-Columbia list. She will focus on the heptathlon at EWU.
-- Richland senior Galia Deitz recently committed to Brown University and will compete in track at the Ivy League school, which does not offer athletic scholarships.
Deitz placed third in the 100 and 300 hurdles at state last year.
-- Moses Lake senior Ann Noyes recently signed with Boise State University, where she will focus on the heptathlon.
Noyes qualified for the 4A Eastern Regionals last year in the 400 meters, 100 hurdles and long and triple jumps.
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Tonight's football game between Kennewick and Kamiakin high schools figures to fill up the 6,800-seat Lampson Stadium.
The Richland Invite -- the area's biggest regular-season cross country meet -- likely will draw several hundred spectators, mostly family and friends. And even the all-classes state event at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco can't compete with a regular-season showdown between city rivals.
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In the boys race, Kamiakin senior Anthony Armstrong is the defending champ and course record holder after last year's time of 14 minutes, 53.36 seconds.
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With back-to-back premier events in the cross country world the next two weekends, different teams are using the big meets for different reasons.
For elite teams -- like the Kamiakin boys (ranked second in the state 3A) and girls (ranked third) -- it is a chance to pit themselves against the Northwest's best at Sunfair this Saturday at Franklin Park in Yakima and the Richland Invite the following weekend.
Likewise for the top individuals, with some of the best boys in the nation lining up for Kamiakin's Anthony Armstrong to challenge.
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