In just five short years, Richard Fannin has started a pre-season meet gathering on a golf course in Jacksonville into one of the most competitive high school cross country invitationals in the state of Florida. Over 60 schools and more than 1,800 runners are set to compete Friday evening at the 2021 Cecil Field Summer Classic at the New World Golf Course including many of the top-ranked individuals and teams from all classifications.
A long-time coach himself at Bishop Snyder then at Bishop Kenney, Fannin gave up coaching last year and has used his extra free time to really spend his energy recruiting and promoting the event to have such an elite draw of runners and squads set to face off in a late August test.