Earlybird Invitational

 Hard to believe this will be the final year of the 23rd annual Earlybird Invitational, which again has lined up some of the top cross country runners and programs in the state.
 Coming to Toro Park for the final time includes St. Francis, who won a state boys divisional title last year and was ranked No. 9 in the nation.
 The top three teams in the Central Coast Section are competing, including Los Altos and Bellarmine Prep, along with No. 6 Cupertino, No. 8 Aptos and No. 10 Willow Glen.
 Locally, some of the elite runners in the seniors race will include Greenfield's Rigo Garcia, Alisal's Peter Maciel, Monterey's Isaac Gensel, Marina's Chris Plascencia and Palma's Tommy Padilla.
 Maciel helped Alisal to a Gabilan Division team title last year while Plascencia shattered all of the Mariners course records in advancing to the state championships.
 Garcia has led Greenfield to back-to-back league titles and state meet appearances while Padilla has been to the state finals two of the last three years.
 The girls division is stacked with defending champion Santa Cruz, who owns the team course record for time. Four of the top 10 teams in the CCS are slated to compete, along with Merced.
 One of the top distance aces in the state will set her sites on a title in Quinn Hagerman of Merced, who won the Lowell Invitational last week.
 Among those hoping to dip under 20 minutes on the 3.01 mile loop include North County's Faith Mora, Notre Dame's Angela Leavitt, Carmel's Colleen Lang and Layla Ruiz of Watsonville.
 Lang helped Carmel to a Mission Trail Athletic League team title last year, qualifying for the state meet in Division IV while Leavitt has won a pair of league titles, reaching state.