CENTERTON -- The final week of high school track's regular season brings out a first for Bentonville West as it is set to host the inaugural Wolverine Invitational.

A number of Northwest Arkansas schools, including a majority of the 6A-West Conference schools, will be in attendance at today's meet at Wolverine Stadium. The field events will begin at 3:30 p.m., followed by running events at 4 p.m.

"Luckily, we've had a couple of dry runs with junior high meets," West boys coach Brad LaBass said. "We've worked out some of the kinks, but it is a major challenge -- finding workers, finding enough help. Fortunately, our parents and our football staff has been huge, working events and jumping in without question.

"Being the inaugural Wolverine Invitational, we do want a lot of teams to come in and be blown away, not only by our facilities but by the way we run the program at West. I know our athletes are excited. This is the first time they get to run in their hometown and in front of their families."

Several of the teams are likely to hold their athletes to limited events since conference meets being held next week, and LaBass said he would be doing the same with his West team. Some teams will also be sending some athletes to the Kansas Relays.

This inaugural meet, however, will feature an event not normally run at meets -- the mixed 4x400-meter relay, which is being added to track and field during the 2020 Summer Olympics. Teams consist of two males and two females in any particular running order.

"As a coaching staff, we thought nobody does that around here," LaBass said. "Rogers does its relays, and that's fun for the kids. We thought about adding the co-ed relay, and the coaches get to decide the running order. That's where the strategic aspect comes into play.

"I know our kids are excited about it. I've talked to a majority of the coaches that are coming, and they're excited. It's a different dynamic and a little fun thing to do right before the conference meet."
