The Los Angeles Invitational was an elite level

indoor track Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping event ...

meet, held in the

Los Angeles Sports Arena The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was a multi-purpose arena at Exposition Park, in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and just south of the campus of the University of ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. For 25 years (1970 to 1995) the event was sponsored by the hometown

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who assumed title sponsorship and the event was known as the Sunkist Invitational. The meet was promoted by Al Franken (not the comedian/U.S. Senator), later with the help of his son Don under the banner of Franken Enterprises. Franken co-founded the meet along with coach

Herschel Curry Smith Herschel Curry Smith (1903–1983) was an American athletic coach in the sport of track and field at Compton Community College, Compton Jr. College. He is also popularly known as the founder of the Compton Invitational, and the co-founder of the ...

. It was usually held in early to mid-February, was frequently televised nationally, and was an elite level stop between the

Millrose Games The Millrose Games is an annual indoor athletics meet (track and field) held each February in New York City. They started taking place at the Armory in Washington Heights in 2012, after having taken place in Madison Square Garden from 1914 to 2011 ...

and the

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships in ...

. In addition to attracting the top elite athletes which dominated the evening schedule, it was an all day event featuring the top high school runners (all running unattached to conform to

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rules), just before the official track season began. The event was cancelled before its 44th edition in 2004, due to lack of sponsorship. Before its demise, it claimed to be the second longest running indoor track meet in the United States. They also claim 105 Olympic gold medalists among their alumni and many other elite athletes participated in the meet. Several still standing World, American and other national records were set at the meet.

References

{{US track and field competitions Recurring sporting events established in 1960 Track and field competitions in the United States Sports competitions in Los Angeles Annual sporting events in the United States Track and field in California