UH hosted the fifth annual High School Cougar Cross Country Classic on Saturday at Buffalo Bayou Park.
“It’s starting to make a name for itself,” head coach Ryan Turner said. “When I first got here it was a meet where there were 30 kids in a race. This year, every race had more than 100 kids. This is our fifth year, so the growth we’ve had in participation is great.”
Instead of arranging races by freshmen, junior varsity and varsity, the competitions are based on all four academic classifications.
“What coaches like about it is it’s an early-season meet and it gives kids a chance to compete against kids their age. It’s like the equivalent of an early-season scrimmage for some of these kids.
“Early in the year not everyone’s in good shape, there are teams that are ready to race who are ready to race but there’s plenty of teams who aren’t. Their kids aren’t overwhelmed early, but it’s still a big-quality meet.”
