More Than a Race: First to the Finish Invitational a Rite of Passage for Illinois Runners

Each September, thousands of student-athletes from across Illinois converge on Detweiller Park in Peoria to participate in what has become one of the country’s largest single-day high school sporting events.

This invitational isn’t the state cross-country meet, which is held at the park in November, and medals aren’t awarded to the top finishers. Instead, everyone who crosses the finish line on the famed course receives a participation ribbon — a tradition held for more than three decades — whether the runner is a future Olympian or the slowest on their team.

The First to the Finish Invitational, first held in 1987 with just 26 schools, has evolved into a premier event for Illinois high school cross-country runners. The invitational has grown more than tenfold since the inaugural race and is recognized as largest single-day high school sporting event in Illinois.

NFHS data suggests that around one-third of all Illinois high school cross-country programs took part in this year’s race on September 13.

This year, 4,527 runners from 224 Illinois high schools completed the invitational, with more than 20,000 spectators taking in the competition. The 2024-25 NFHS participation survey showed 736 Illinois high schools offered cross country for boys, with 9,827 total runners, and 728 girls programs with 7,946 runners.

Brien Dunphy, athletic director at Peoria High School for the past 15 years, serves as the race director — just the second person in the invitational’s history to do so. He also directs the state cross-country meet and the Peoria Invitational.

The event’s founder, Dave Suffield, an educator for 33 years and a former cross-country coach, directed the race from its founding until 2007. Dunphy took over the race after Suffield stepped down.

The race was originally called the Woodruff Invitational, after E.N. Woodruff High School in Peoria, but the school closed in 2010. Peoria High School has facilitated the meet since. Detweiller Park has hosted the state cross-country meet since 1970, with girls races added in 1979.

Both Dunphy and Suffield said the primary goal of the meet is to give all Illinois high school runners a chance to run on the state meet course. They noted that many race alumni in their 30s and 40s have told them they still have their participation ribbons, and the invitational was the highlight of their season each year.

“I’ve coached long enough that (I know) you can run cross country and never read your name in the paper, never get an award, never be on the stage. And other than maybe your mom and your grandma, few even knew you were a participant,” Dunphy said. “But at this one race, every single runner — the last one, the first one — gets the same ribbon. … It’s just special. It’s a special event.”

Dunphy called Detweiller Park “the best spectator cross-country course imaginable,” citing its figure-eight layout that allows fans to see large portions of the race from a few vantage points. The course is flat and fast, with a modest incline near the finish.

The meet steadily grew through the early 2000s when Dunphy began reaching out to schools via email rather than traditional mail and phone calls, making communication more efficient, Suffield said. The race has used the same timers — Jerry and Elaine Riebling with River City Race Management — for decades, and moving to electronic timing with online results also allowed the invitational to grow.

In 2023, the race surpassed 200 schools for the first time.

For years, the event’s shirts have been highly prized by attendees, featuring the top 10 finish times on the back and a course map. One year, the course map was upside down on the front of the shirt so runners could look down and see where they were if they ever ran the course again.

Illinois has three classes for boys and girls cross country, so the event runs eight races each year (six class races plus two open races). On race day, Class A schools go first, followed by the larger classes. There are typically 80 or more runners spread out across the starting line before each race starts.

Volunteers from Peoria High School, including coaches, students involved in other sports, the Spanish club, the music department and various other groups, form a small army of helpers on race day. Dunphy noted that 17 officials also work the event.

After a school’s race concludes, teams immediately clear the course to keep the event moving and parking open. There are no awards ceremonies, which Dunphy said is essential for keeping the park from overcrowding.

Dozens of NCAA Division I athletes have raced at the invitational, as have future Olympians such as Peoria native Tim Broe who competed in the 5,000-meter race at the 2004 Athens Games.

Although retired for more than 20 years, Suffield still volunteers at the First to the Finish Invitational.

“I am very proud,” Suffield said of the race. “It’s probably one of the high points in my life.”

Looking ahead, Dunphy doesn’t anticipate the event growing much larger than it already is. On average, he estimates around 5,700 runners register annually, though hundreds drop out before race day. In 2016, the event recorded more than 6,000 entries — the largest number ever — prompting organizers to ask teams to enter only athletes who have a strong probability of competing.

While the event could cut the number of participants down significantly and not lose much money, there are no plans to do so.

The NFHS could not verify if First to the Finish is the largest high school sporting event by participation for a single day before publication, but can confidently say it ranks among the top in the United States.

Peoria High School takes pride in staging major cross-country events each year and has adopted the slogan “We run cross country in Illinois,” a motto it plans to continue using for years to come.

Jordan Morey is manager of communications and media relations at the NFHS.