Willmar's distance squad will score a boatload of points for them on Saturday (Photo provided by Kayla Rudie)
AA Girls
Participating Teams And Their Coaches
Section 1AA: Red Wing - Jesse Nelson
Section 2AA: Belle Plaine - Rich Foustt
Section 3AA: Visitation - Jeff Fink
Section 4AA: Benilde-St. Margaret's - John Porish
Section 5AA: Rocori - Brad Bauer/Jim Meyer
Section 6AA: Willmar - Jerry Popp
Section 7AA: North Branch - Norm Nagel
Section 8AA: Pequot Lakes - Jana Lueck
Wild Card: Byron - Charro Coleman
The girls Class AA competition looks to be pretty similar to the boys, in that two front-running teams will have the targets on their backs and the competition thinning out from there. But unlike the boys, this field will include more than just a few truly outstanding athletes to look out for. Belle Plaine's hurdler Selin Dikmen, Pequot Lakes' sprinter Chloe Bermel, Red Wing jumper Madisyn Lyons, or any one of Willmar's NXN-qualifying distance runners are just a few of the high-impact names that will probably be scoring hefty points for their teams at the State competition in June. Some of these events, like the 4x400, 4x800,, triple jump, or pole vault, could event prove to be just as competitive and thrilling as their June counterparts.
But the competition is primarily a team one, and from a team standpoint it will probably come down to either Rocori or Willmar. On the track, Rocori could be dominant. Each of their relays has the potential to win, and every event could see at least one individual athlete claim a top-three finish. The 400 and 800 runners stand out the most, led by Jayda Woods and Carly Kremer.
Placing these athletes into the most appropriate combination of individual events and relays will be tricky for coaches Brad Bauer and Jim Meyer, but with their depth, they could potentially easily switch out some of their top athletes with someone in the next tier and still not lose many points. The field events are where Rocori could lose some of their edge as they are simply not as deep there as on the track, so each of their top jumpers (like Gretchen Houston and Emma Langer) and throwers (Amanda Bicknell, Kennedy Heinen, and Tracy Duhoux) will need to have strong performances to hold off Willmar.
Of course, by now everyone knows how good Willmar's distance crew is, centered around seniors Kayla Rudie, Jessa Hanson, and Sophie Schmitz, but sprinters Kim White and Erica Schramm, together with thrower Cayle Hovland, are capable of helping the team's cause just as much, if not even more. But while Willmar could potentially pull in vast quantities of points thanks to these athletes, behind them is where Willmar might lose this competition. The don't have one of the stronger hurdle groups in the meet, and Bronwyn Tollefson may be Willmar's only jumper to pull in more than 10 points in an event. But if Willmar can squeeze a few more points than expected from those areas, they will be tough to beat.
The one team that is most likely to challenge Willmar or Rocori is going to be the defending champions from Red Wing. Led by their jumpers and their distance runners, Red Wing will depend on jumper/hurdlers Madisyn Lyons, Paige Patterson, and Elle Thorson for most of their points, while distance runner Grace Johnson needs to score well and potentially beat some Willmar runners to try to make up some ground. The throws and pole vault will be a challenge for Red Wing to overcome since they don't have a ton of scoring potential in those events, but if even a few of those athletes do better than expected, things could get a lot more interesting at the top. Behind Red Wing, the teams from Belle Plaine, Visitation, and Byron could all make a strong push for the podium.
Belle Plaine experienced some drama at True Team sections when the initial results had them losing a tiebreaker for first place to Mankato East, but after an error was corrected, standings swing into their favor. Hurdles will be Belle Paine's strongest area thanks to Selin Dikmen and Jaylen Struck-Schmitz, and they should gain good points in the relay event too, but they probably won't have enough manpower behind them to pull much higher than third. Byron is in the same situation; despite no shortage of great athletes like jumper/hurdler Emma Weatherly, distance runner Taylor Kreitinger, and throwers Hailey Bahr and Ayoka Lee, Byron will lose a lot of points in the sprinting events and relays that will probably keep them out of serious contention for first. Meanwhile, Visitation doesn't quite have the big-point potential to make a serious challenge either, although they have a solid depth and hurdler Annette Okafor and their relays could end up winning a few events. Rounding out the competition will be Pequot Lakes (who have star potential in Chloe Bermel, their sprinters and their jumpers), North Branch (led by Rhianna Rinke and some excellent pole vaulters) and Benilde-St. Margarets (whose primary points will probably come from jumper/hurdler Maizy Jackson).