Since 1987 there has been no better place for high school long distance runners to be on the Saturday after Thanksgiving than Fresno's Woodward Park.

That's the day each year the scenic regional park gives up 3.1 miles of its mild, rolling trails to about 2,000 boys and girls from throughout California for the running the CIF State Cross Country Championships.

From early morning to mid-afternoon, the course is swarming with runners, like ants on turkey dinner leftovers--but it's certainly no picnic. Although the runners are many (nearly 200 in each of 10 races, five divisions of boys and five of girls), the prizes are few.