(The 26th running of the Oscar Grant Invite is set for Thursday at Maplewood)
Just over 60 years ago, a science teacher and coach thought it would be a good idea to introduce track and field and cross country to the student-athletes of the newly formed Maplewood High School.
The true wisdom of that objective by the late Oscar Grant is crystal clear in the history books of those two sports in the Buckeye state.
On Thursday, the program that Grant founded, led for almost three decades and helped develop into a statewide power will honor him again with the 26th annual Oscar Grant Maplewood Invitational.
"As Maplewood High School became known as a distance running powerhouse, Oscar Grant became known as the reason why," meet director Ted Rupe said of the man he succeeded as Maplewood science teacher and XC and track coach. "Until he passed away in 2014, Oscar worked with every distance runner that came through Maplewood as either a coach, an official or as a friend. Even though for a number of years Oscar was never recognized as the head coach, he always was the driving force behind the Maplewood program."
This year's invite kicks off with the 2-mile junior high boys' race at 4:30 p.m., followed by the girls' race for 7th- and 8th-graders and high school 5K events. All four races will be contested on the course that bears Grant's name.
(5K races at the high school level and junior high 2 mile contests will highlight Thursday's action)
"Oscar took me under his wing when I was a very under-confident, self-conscious young runner," said Rupe, whom Grant coached to an individual XC title in 1972 as the leader of the Class A team champions that same year. "He taught me how to train, how to set goals and how to compete. He also showed me how to direct my life outside of sports and was the major influence in me going on to college and majoring in chemistry education as he had."
Grant, who also served for years as the school's athletic director, retired from Maplewood in 1986 with the Rockets firmly established as a team to beat in XC and track circles. Heading into the 2019 season, Maplewood has seven boys' state team XC titles, tied for the third-highest total in OHSAA history, and 37 state team berths, which is also tied for No. 3 in all divisions.
"I knew they were very big shoes to fill, but once again that was inspiration essential for me to set high goals and to attempt to achieve them," Rupe said of his return to Maplewood as teacher and coach. "I taught and coached at Maplewood for 25 years. I am quite proud of both the individuals and teams that Maplewood had during this time and for the growth of the program.
"Mr. Grant was never far away as he was teaching at Victory Christian and officiating many of the meets that we competed in. Coincidentally, Mr. Grant and I both retired in 2011."
As in years past, Thursday's Oscar Grant Maplewood Invitational will be a test of early season fitness for the northeast Ohio teams entered. In 2018, Miranda Stanhope of Badger jump-started her run to the Division III state title in November with a resounding victory in the Grant invite in 19:08.7, just seconds off the meet record of 19:03 by Lakeside's Mallory Dragon in 2003.
On the boys' side, Brody Rupe of McDonald returns for another run at the No. 1 spot. The junior claimed the 2018 race in 17:28.7 en route to an 11th-place finish at National Trail Raceway as the Blue Devils finished fourth in a hotly contested Division III boys' team battle.
On the girls' side, only two from last year's HS top 26 graduated. For the boys, only three in the 2018 top 10 and five in the first 20 graduated.
This year's field includes a number of Division III teams ranked in the OATCCC preseason poll. For the boys, McDonald was fourth, while Maplewood was 17th, while In the girls' Division III poll, McDonald was 6th, with Maplewood 11th and Mineral Ridge 19th.
Maplewood has collected the boys' team title 10 times in its home invite, while rival McDonald has been champion seven times and Girard (3), Lakeview (2), Ashtabula Edgewood (2) and Berkshire (1) also have won.
McDonald also has eight girls' titles to its credit at the Oscar Grant meet, while Berkshire (6), Pymatuning Valley (3), Jefferson (2), Lakeside (2), Gilmour Academy (2), Maplewood (1) and Howland (1) also have walked away as team champs since 1994.