GARNER — A track meet to honor the late Lee Vernon McNeill is becoming an annual tradition.

The third annual Lee Vernon McNeill SETC Invitational Track Meet will take place July 13 at Garner Magnet High School, honoring the St. Pauls native and 1988 U.S. Olympian who died in 2021.

The meet is organized by the Soaring Eagles Track Club, which was co-founded by McNeill and continues to be run by his sister, Tasha Simpson.

Registration is open at coacho.com at a cost of $8 per event or $25 per relay. Tickets are available for spectators for $10 at gofan.co. Organizers encourage athletes or their coaches to go ahead and register now to lock in their place in the event. Registration will close on July 10.

The event is a USATF-sanctioned event, open to all youth athletes.

SETC is also seeking volunteers for the event. Volunteers will receive a t-shirt and two meals on the day of the meet.

More information on the meet is available at soaringeaglestrackclub.com, by email at soaringeaglestrackclub@gmail.com or by phone at 919-818-8546.

Class of 2024 high school graduates are also encouraged to apply for the Lee Vernon McNeill, Oly — SETC Scholarship, “which is what our Invitational Track Meet is all about,” a flyer for the event said. More information on the scholarship will be available at soaringeaglestrackclub.com soon.

McNeill competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea as part of Team USA’s 4×100 relay team. He also was part of relays to win gold at the World Championships and Pan-American Games, and was a three-time All-American sprinter at East Carolina, with a 100-meter dash school record of 10.09 that still stands nearly four decades later.

McNeill also won state championships in the 100- and 200-meter dash in 1984 competing for St. Pauls High School.

He died on Sept. 29, 2021 from complications of COVID-19.