For the third year in a row now, Morris Community High School will be host to the opening cross country invitational for several area teams. It's called the Morris Early Bird Invite and Redskins coach Joe Blumberg said it was born out of necessity.

"Three years ago, the IHSA moved the beginning of the cross country season up one week and moved up the first date competitions are allowed," he said. "We didn't have many home meets, saw an opportunity to host a 1A and 2A invite."

This year, the teams invited to Morris are Fieldcrest, Gardner-South Wilmington, La Salle-Peru, Ottawa Marquette, Plano, Pontiac, Sandwich, Stretor, Seneca and the Chicago Christian girls.