A pair of county-centered events will help get the 2008 fall high school sports season rolling. First up is the Smithfield-Selma Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, which will be run across Smithfield Community Park and the Smithfield-Selma High School campus.

Among those scheduled to compete are four defending conference championship-winning squads: West Johnston’s boys and girls (the 2007 Greater Neuse River 4-A champs), South Johnston’s boys (who won last year’s Cape Fear Valley 3-A title) and Princeton’s girls (the x’07 Carolina 1-A champs).

The field will include host Smithfield-Selma, Clayton, Nash Central and Holly Springs as well. The girls race is set for 8 a.m. and will be followed by the boys’ event.

The 2008 Herald Cup boys soccer tournament begins Monday at North Johnston High School. West Johnston is the defending champion for the event, which will conclude next Thursday.

Opening night matches feature Johnston Christian Academy against Clayton (at 5) and Smithfield-Selma taking on host North Johnston (at 7). Last year’s semifinalists — South Johnston and West — get byes into Wednesday’s semifinals. West meets the JCA-Clayton winner at 5 p.m. and then South takes on either North or SSS at 7. Next Thursday’s final round features all six teams in action with matches at 3:30, 5:30 and 7:30 (the championship).