The 2016 Land O' Lakes Gator "Keppel" Invitational meet will be held at Crews Lake Park in West Pasco on Saturday, October 31st with a full slate of 30 teams scheduled to compete in 2 Varsity Races and 2 JV Races.

Teams scheduled to compete include:

Schedule of Events

Coaches Meeting - 7:40am 

Varsity Girls - 8AM  |  Varsity Boys 8:35  |  JV Girls 9:05  |  JV Boys 9:40

BOYS TEAM PREVIEW

Last week we saw the Newsome Boys win a hotly contested North Port Invitational by the slightest of margins over Estero 122-125.  The top 5 teams were only separated by 26 points. 

Newsome will be the favorite coming in on paper but this is where it's important to know what the stats are telling us. 

North Port is a fast course.  It has a lot of hard surface which can really skew the team averages.

Last week Steinbrenner split their squad and their Boys won the George Jenkins Invitational at Holloway Park which isn't hard-surfaced at all.

Steinbrenner's measly 34 second spread is slightly better than Newsome 40 second spread.

The battle for team dominance is too close to call.  Will it be Newsome or Steinbrenner?  Will both teams be at full strength?

BOYS INDIVIDUALS PREVIEW

The top few boys are really close in terms of time.  Last week Land O' Lakes Alex Normandia was 6th overall and Newsome's Triston Vaira was 7th overall at the fast North Port Invitational.  Jacob Hensley from Citrus ran in the swampy, hot, muggy, conditions at UF going 16:48.  It's a toss up as to who will win come race tme tomorrow. 

GIRLS TEAM PREVIEW

After their big win at the UF MT. Dew Invitational last weekend by 102 points over local rival Plant who finished 2nd 65-167, Coach Baldwin has his girls firing on all cylinders.  With a big meet coming up next weekend at FSU, fully expect some down time for the Warriors.  Osceola and Newsome are pretty close team wise and should be in contention for top honors as well.

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL PREVIEW

Land O' Lakes sophomore Natalie Abernathy has the fastest time recorded so far this year.  She was 3rd last week at the North Port XC Invitational and has endured a busy week winning the mid-week Tri at Wesley Chapel going 19:24. Considering this is her home meet, we expect another solid outing.