Sallisaw Invitational cross country meet slated Saturday morning

For the first time in nearly three decades, there will be a high school cross country race at Sallisaw High School.

The 2023 Sallisaw Invitational will take place Saturday morning, with races beginning at 9 a.m. with the junior high girls’ race. That will be followed by the junior high boys’ race, the high school girls’ race and the high school boys’ race. Each race is slated to begin 15 minutes apart.

“It’s been at least 30 years,” Sallisaw cross country coach Zac Black said about the length of time between such events at SHS. “I think that’s a good estimate.”

The course namely will be in the open land north of Paul Post Fieldhouse and east of the softball field, but there will be some areas of obscurity for fans watching the runners perform.

“It will go behind the tree line for a while,” Black said. “There will be a segment of the race where most spectators will not see the runners, but it will be a brief interval. They’ll come out from the tree line and will be almost like a reveal of who stayed up with who. It should be fun. We’re very much looking forward to it.”

Black said the course itself is in good shape.

“I’ve ran on it myself in spikes just to test it out,” he said. “It’s a good course. We have three laps for the 5K races. I generally like the course. We’ve worked really hard on it — me, the athletic director (Jeff Streun) and everyone else who’s helped me work on it. I’m very appreciative of their efforts. I think it’s really come out to be a unique and fun course. I’m excited to see how everything plays out Saturday.”

Black is hoping this is not only the start of a turning point for his SHS cross country program but also giving local runners a meet to come to in Sallisaw.

“I’m extremely excited,” he said. “I ran here at this program when I was in high school. Now, as a coach, trying to build a program kind of from the ground up, I’m very excited to incorporate our own meet both as a way to increase morale for my kids but as a way to bring in more of the smaller schools from around the area into one meet. I just want to have another opportunity for (cross country) racing.”

The school itself is just as excited as Black and the SHS runners are.

“I know the school is also very excited for another opportunity for Sallisaw to host something, and just to watch a program grow,” he said.

Central and Gore are among the local schools are slated to have its runners run the course Saturday morning.