With over 70 schools and 2,000 athletes attending, the 2018 Katie Caples Invitational is set to be the largest and one of the most competitive years in the events long running history.
Originally named the Greater Jax Invite, the race was renamed in 1998 to honor the memory of Katie Caples a Bishop Kenny cross country runner who passed away due to a car accident during her junior year.
As a new driver Katie had recently made the decision to register as an organ donor. Her ultimate act of generosity saved the lives of five individuals and further enhanced the lives of several others.
Inspired by Katie's example David and Susan Caples founded the Katie Caples Foundation to raise awareness about the importance of becoming an organ donor. The Katie Caples Foundation believes that anyone and everyone should register to become an organ donor, and has partnered with area schools, Mayo Clinic, University of Florida Shands Hospital, DMVs and Tax Collector offices to extend their message throughout the northeast Florida area.
Their campaign has led to steep rises in the amount of registered organ donors in northeast Florida, including a nearly 400% increase in the number of 15-18 year olds.
Bishop Kenny is proud to partner with Foundation every year by donating all entry gate proceeds collected at the Katie Caples Invitational.
For the last two decades, the level of competition of the Katie Caples Invitational has grown to become one of the premier midseason races in the state.
The 2018 Katie Caples Invitation will once again host middle school, junior varsity, varsity and elite varsity race divisions. In recent years the biggest rise in the level of competition has come from the middle school races.
Since the inclusion of a middle school division in 2015, the number of teams has grown from five schools in the first year to thirty middle school programs this year, including great teams such as Bolles, Montverde, Providence, Assumption Catholic, Episcopal, Indian Trails Middle and many more.
The highlight race of the evening, however, will be the Elite Varsity Races. The boys and girls races will see twenty top ten ranked teams compete head to head under the lights, including the top ranked Bolles boys, Circle Christian girls, and Newsome girls.
Interestingly one of the more recent developments in the past few years has seen the Katie Caples Invitational transform in to an unofficial class 2A pre-State meet.
The Elite girls race will see class 2A head to head battles between Bolles (2nd), Montverde (3rd), Trinity Prep (5th), St. Brendan (7th), and the Satellite (9th) girls teams. Add in the Creekside girls, ranked 2nd in 3A, Circle Christian, ranked 1st in 1A, and a head to head battle between G. Holmes Braddock and the top ranked 4A Newsome girls and the race for the Elite girls championship should see some incredible performances and have some major post season implications.
The individual race should be equally competitive with Carly McNatt (Holy Trinity), Lily Henne (Montverde), Sinkenesh Parker (Circle Christian), Cadi Rowe (Lake Minneola), Kendyl Cardwell (Montverde), Gianna Forte (Bishop Snyder) and Claire Openshaw (Creekside) all having run sub 19:00 already this season.
In the Elite boys race we will see five of the top six ranked 2A boys team race head to head, with Bolles (1st), Satellite (2nd), Bishop Kenny (3rd), Lake Highland Prep (4th) and Lake Wales (6th) all set to square off against each other. While Bolles looks set to continue their dominant trend this weekend, look for Satellite and Bishop Kenny to try and close the gap and watch for Miami Coral Park (4A) and St. Augustine HS (3A) to be in the mix for the top five team spots in this highly completive race.
In the boys Elite individual race Charles Hicks looks likely to run away from the field but we will see a host of runners eyeing the sub 16:00 barrier Saturday night. Chase Rivera (Bolles) and Ben Foltz (Bolles) have already dipped under that mark this season, but they will be pursued by Gabe Montague (Satellite), Justin Wilson (Satellite), Sebastian Keane (Stanton), Alex Hastings (Bolles), Anderson Denton (Lake Wales), and Mac Updike (Lake Wales).
This event will be live streamed through the NFHS Network.
Check out the action at https://accounts.nfhsnetwork.com/redeem?code=CrusaderVision1819
For more information on the Katie Caples Foundation please visit www.katiecaples.org
Kevin Curran
Head Coach Bishop Kenny HS