COAL GROVE — A battle at ever stop.

The talent assembled for the annual Coal Grove Giovanni’s Invitational will offer outstanding battles in every event when the track meet begins at 5 p.m. on Friday.

Host Coal Grove will entertain Ironton, Rock Hill, Chesapeake, South Point, Fairland, Green, South Gallia, Gallipolis, Wayne (W.Va.), Spring Valley (W.Va.), Fairview (Ky.) and Raceland (Ky.).

“I think this is going to be a very competitive meet and should be exciting to watch,” said Hornets’ coach Jay Lucas. “Each event will have some of the top performers in the area.”

The favorites are Fairland, Spring Valley, and Gallipolis who has strong relays and distance runners.

“”Gallipolis will be strong in relays and they have some good distance runners,” said Lucas.

Some of the top performers in the meet include Coal Grove’s Oakie Haynes in the sprints and long jump, Frank Delawder in the shot put, Aaron Dickess in the discus, Jacob Pauley in distance races, and Cody Damron and Jake Brown in the high jump.

Ironton is led by high jumper Lukas Morris and pole vaulter Jon Monnig. South Point has Drew Lynd in sprints and the long jump, Rock Hill’s Shayne Wilds in the discus, Chesapeake’s Peter Hintz in sprints and the long jump, Spring Valley’s Terry Kipp in the sprints.