BUCHANAN — RedBud MX in Buchanan holds a special place in the hearts of many in southwest Michigan.

But that is because the biggest race in the professional motocross series is hosted there each Fourth of July weekend as well as several other professional events.

But for the past two years, RedBud has also become a must for area cross country teams.

The Redbud Tri-State Invitational is hosted on the site of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Division 2 and Division 3 regional meets next month.

While Buchanan and Brandywine get a chance to run on the RedBud track as members of the BCS Athletic Conference, the rest of the teams that are scheduled to compete there in October want to get at least one chance to run the course.

For many of them, Saturday is that opportunity.

“We take this meet a little bit more seriously,” said Niles coach Tony Todd, whose team will compete there in October. “You cannot practice on the course, but we try to get out there and make ourselves familiar with it.”

Dowagiac boys cross country coach Dan VandenHeede also noted that it is important to get a look at the regional course.

“We are not doing anything different,” he said. “We will probably do some hill work this week. We are mainly going so they can run on the course before regionals.”

Edwardsburg coach Beth Gunn said her team is slightly handicapped by the fact that they have no hills to run in preparation for the race.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have hills near our school that we can train on,” she said. “Fortunately, the team loves this race and venue so they are usually pretty pumped to run the course. Looking forward to seeing my top runners compete Saturday, provided they are healthy.”

Edwardsburg won the girls championship last season as it edged Jenison by a single point. Niles finished fourth, while host Buchanan was sixth.

Bridgman captured the boys team title while Edwardsburg finished third. Brandywine, Niles and Buchanan did not have enough runners to post a team score.

The Vikings’ Devin Tomlinson finished second with a time of 17:01. Tomlinson had already posted a pair of invitational victories this season for Niles.

Dowagiac sophomore Shawn Little will be a factor on Saturday. The Chieftains did not run at RedBud last season, but Little has already posted several times in the sub 16-minute range.

“Shawn will do well,” VandenHeede said. “He may not lead in the beginning, but he has the strength and endurance to be leading at the end when it counts.”

Cameron Cleveland of Edwardsburg was the runner-up in the girls race last season with a 20:46. Cleveland has been running well again this season for the Eddies and is expected to challenge for the top individual finisher.

The girls varsity race is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with the boys varsity race slate to start at 9:30 am.

The girls and boys middle school races will begin at 10 and 10:20 a.m. respectively.

The sixth-grade race begins at 10:45 a.m.

Admission is $5 per person or $20 per vehicle.