Thousands race at annual cross-country invitational

BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) – The 39th Spartan Invitational was held at Boardman High School Saturday morning, with thousands of runners racing.

“It’s one of the biggest cross-country meets in the entire country,” said Boardman High School Assistant Director Rick Sybert. “We’re going to see about 5,000 runners.”

Races started at 9 a.m and end in the late afternoon.

Organizers say the event usually has anywhere from 15,000 to 22,000 fans.

“For any athletes in high school, it’s the last step before you go to state,” Sybert said. “We’ve been working hard for weeks to get this thing ready.”

Runners’ grade levels range from middle school to high school and they come from all across Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

“It’s a sense of pride. We get a lot of local businesses and a lot of corporate sponsors involved with the invitational,” Sybert said. “It’s a lot of pride, it gives us an opportunity to show off all of our grounds and all the wonderful things that we have here at Boardman.”

Next year, Sybert says they hope to be USA Track & Field (USATF) certified so any runner from across the country can come and compete at the event.

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