I'm a few years older than you and I'd agree with your comment about being proud to run in the footsteps of giants. Sunken Meadow might have been as hard or harder and even though Gregorek and Sanders were legends when I was in HS Sunken Meadow was a regional course unlike VCP.
California is now the top state for boys XC and Washington and Illinois were always powerful. But VCP was the place the island, upstate, and Jersey guys converged. Would it be 70 degrees and sunny or 40 and windy or ankle deep in mud? What shoes should you wear? The invitational were always great ( not that I was good enough to run in them)