Girls Cross Country raced strong at the 45th Asics Clovis Invitational at Woodward Park in Clovis, CA. Photo courtesy of Joseph Lee.
San Luis Obispo High School Cross Country athletes are heading today to the 46th Asics Clovis Invitational to race Friday, October 10, 2025. Girls and Boys Cross Country teams are racing at Woodward Park in Clovis, California. The Clovis Invite is one of the largest and most competitive high school cross country invites in the nation. 293 high schools from all over the West Coast are competing here.
Girls race at 8:15 a.m. and boys are racing at 8:55 a.m.. Both teams are racing in the Small Schools Championships Race.
“The Clovis Invite is one of the largest invitationals on the west coast with many teams from California and neighboring states attending, even the number two ranked team in the nation from Utah is attending,” said Varsity Cross Country runner senior Ethan Feeser.
This race has a far different feel compared to previous cross country races for SLOHS’ teams.
“It’s our first chance to get out there and see the rest of California. I think we get isolated here on the Central Coast. This is our first chance to be in a race where we’re just surrounded by hundreds of people just as good as we are,” said Girls Cross Country Varsity Head Coach Dan Berkeland.
SLOHS tigers are going to face off against unfamiliar faces and much faster competition. Although SLOHS has one of the best Cross Country programs on the Central Coast, going against schools in these races in particular is another story.
“The boys and girls both got into the championship races. That is an honor to be in it. There were 140 schools that wanted to be in it, and they chose 16. So, it’s not a light choice. It’s a choice that they calculated, these are the 16 best teams in these races. So for us to be in that is an honor,” said Berkeland.
These Tigers have worked hard to be in this race. One of the performances considered was the boys varsity team all running under 16:40 at the Goose Chase Invitational 5k on September 27. The boys team walked away with a win of 56 points and for a while were ranked seventh in the state.
This race is an opportunity for athletes to show what they’re capable of in a race like this.
“We’ll be trying to do as well as we can and we’ll be running all out. Despite a couple of injuries, the team remains strong and [the boys team] are sure to run some very fast times,” said Feeser.
This race is also a chance for athletes to check out the Woodward Park course for races that are much more important.
“I want the girls to approach this as if it’s a trial run for the state meet. This is the type of race state meet will be and it’s on the course state will be on. I want the girls to go in there with the attitude of, ‘this is our state meet, this is the practice run for the state meet.’ I want to go through all the feelings, all the attitudes, everything that they can expect to feel,” said Berkeland.
Runners are also putting in some high goals for themselves.
“I would like to run faster than 16:30. I just want to feel like I raced my hardest and that I put in good effort and that it was something I can be proud of,” said Varsity Cross Country runner junior Will Woffinden.
Despite nerves, and pressure, the Clovis Invite is an exciting opportunity for these runners and a unique experience for these runners and coaches.
“Whatever you do at Woodward, that’s what you talk about fifty years later. It’s exciting to run at Woodward. I ran it 35 years ago… [it’s exciting] watching it and comparing how our athletes have advanced way beyond what we were doing,” said Berkeland.
The 46th Asics Clovis Invitational is a chance for SLOHS runners to prove themselves amongst some of the fiercest competition in the nation. With both teams being in championship races, these are sure to be interesting races for athletes and spectators alike.
Although the race is on a Friday and all the way in Clovis livestream the Friday races here.
Sources: athletic.net, clovisxc.com
