Please Note Personal Opinion.
I do not know why many teams have stopped running at MC Watson Ford it was the premier cross country event in Mississippi for years but now some of the top teams do not come. Are they afraid of getting beat (boy is that a loaded question)?
I know that Jesse Owens is the same weekend in Alabama and some of the Mississippi schools have their meet on this weekend. But if all the teams came together here would not the competition be just as great or better? Bragging rights could be justified both team wise and individual. This is even more true now that the MAIS runs 5K for the girls. Small schools can run up if they want to and some top teams from Louisiana come to this meet. Coach Ard even set up a Gold Division a few year ago so that the top teams could meet. If the meet continues to grow like this year he may have to do that next year.
I know teams like to travel to give their athletes a chance to run on other courses and maybe have an overnight stay but it would be great to have all the teams at one race just once a year. No I do not think an All State meet after the season is the answer.