On August 27, 21 teams from around the state poured into the paring lot of Our Lady of Mercy for the 3rd annual Mercy Invitational. Competing schools included public and private ranging from A to AAAA. Going into the meet returning and new teams were optimistic. As Eagles Landing's head coach Claud Spinx described, "(The race) looks great, looks like an awesome meet. The course looks good, real nice facility."
The Varsity girls' race was lead by Holy Innocents' Ali McWhirter from the start line. Ali finished first with a time of 19:41 and Chapel Hill's Abbie Robinson finished second with a time of 20:13. Following the leaders were Northgate's Brandi Juongo, Chapel Hill's Brianne Lapierre and Eagles Landing's Megan Barnes. Chapel Hill's girls finished first overall with 50 points and Eagles Landing came in second with a team score of 67.
On the boy's side, the runners took turns pulling the pack bouncing back and forth between Chapel Hill and OLM. The race was won by Chapel Hill's Chase Eldridge with a time of 16:52 followed by OLM's Jake Lethbridge at 17:02. Not far behind them were Chapel Hill's Travis Voyles, OLM's Matt Lethbridge and Eagles Landing's Brandon Joyner to round out the top five. Following suit of the girl's race, the team title was taken by Chapel Hill with 36 points followed by Eagles Landing with 61 points.
Other races that were held were JV girls and boys and middle school girls and boys. While it was hard to tell what was the best part of the day' most runners would agree that they liked the course and it was a great way to start the 2005 cross country season.