In many ways, Week 3 is when the California cross country season REALLY begins. After so many season-opening races at shorter distances, the invitationals start to settle into standard race lengths for each section, which makes it easier to truly gauge each runner's fitness. Also, it seems like teams are a little more willing to travel longer distances for their major invitationals now, instead of staying close to home among a large number of local meets - that lets us get better comparisons between runners who posted big races in separate places during previous weeks.
Without any further introduction, check out the highlights from our three featured meets this weekend, plus links to our on-site coverage. I'll try to add more meets as I catch my breath and digest the results from the weekend!