Here is some good news for girls running in the varsity race at the Red, White & Blue meet tomorrow morning at Schenley Park. Latrobe won't be in the field.

The past three years, Latrobe's Natalie Bower has won or finished second in the 3.1-mile race. Bower is the three-time defending WPIAL Class AAA champion and would have been favored to win tomorrow. But Latrobe has decided to run at the Gettysburg Cross County Invitational.

"We're going there and have the girls run in the elite race," Latrobe coach Terri Curci said. "I just like to change things up."

Even without the Latrobe girls, who are the No. 2 team in the state in the PennTrackXC.com preseason rankings, the Red, White & Blue meet is one of the top early season invitationals in the area. And the event's reputation is growing.

Along with most of the top teams from the WPIAL and the City League, runners from Bishop Moeller in Cincinnati, Cathedral Prep in Erie and Morgantown High in West Virginia are expected to compete.

The boys' varsity race is scheduled for 8:50 a.m. with the girls' varsity race to follow approximately 30 minutes later. The start is by the track at the Schenley Park Oval with the finish line in the same area. There also will be boys' and girls' junior varsity races.

At the start of the week, race director Rich Wright, Baldwin High coach, said there were 48 schools registered but added that he knew of more teams that planned to attend.

"We could very easily have around 1,500 runners compete," he said. "We'll have more teams this year than we had last year."

What makes the varsity races unique is that runners from Class AAA and AA schools compete against each other. Usually the larger schools, such as North Allegheny, Hempfield and Mt. Lebanon, are in one race and the smaller schools, such as Riverview, Quaker Valley, Freedom and Avonworth, are in another.

What Wright does is have a boys' varsity race and then has the folks from Runner's High, which handles the finish line, separate the results into A and B divisions.

"It works out well because it gives runners from smaller schools a chance to race against those from the bigger ones," Wright said.

Freedom's Ryan Barlow finished 15th overall in the boys' race last year but won the award for the first B finisher. Baldwin's David Adley was the overall winner in 15 minutes, 54 seconds.

There also are separate awards for the top A boys' and girls' teams and the top B boys' and girls' teams. North Allegheny and Latrobe are the defending A boys and girls champions; the Center boys and Avonworth girls won the B team titles last year.

"You'll have a better idea what your team weaknesses are and what you need to work on after Saturday," Gateway coach Tom LaBuff said. "The other thing about the Red, White & Blue is that course is lightning fast and the runners like that."

Gateway had its 20th annual invitational at Boyce Park this past Saturday. Baldwin won the boys' team title, Norwin the girls. But LaBuff said the Boyce Park course is hilly.

"I told our kids they'll probably run a minute or a minute and a half faster this week than in our race," he said.

The Red, White & Blue has been a good starting point for WPIAL team champions. Wright pointed out the past couple of years the race's overall team winners have gone on to take WPIAL Class AAA titles. The North Allegheny boys and Latrobe girls did that last season.

As for this year's individual favorites, Baldwin's T.J. Hobart, who was eighth at Gateway despite some health issues, has the speed to win the race. Gateway's D.J. Krystek won at Boyce Park last weekend and Baldwin's Michael Cain figure to be among the leaders.

Without Bower in the field the girls' race is an all-skate. Norwin's Leslie Kovach and Jenna Gigliotti were one-two at the Gateway Invitational and Mt. Lebanon's Samantha Carl was fifth at the Red, White & Blue last year. Plus, there can be a surprise as there was when Bower won as a freshman.

"I'm sure Mt. Lebanon, North Allegheny and Norwin will be interested to find out we're not coming," Curci said.