Varsity 1A
Starting off the varsity races are the stacked 1A girls. In this race, there are five ranked Class A athletes, plus one more who would be ranked if she were not injured. Based on season bests, the Class A 800 meter champion from this past spring, Ava Hill, emerges as the favorite. The Mesabi East sophomore and cross country rookie is currently ranked seventh among Class A girls and has started her cross country career in fine form. Hill is undefeated with an impressive 18:45 at the GNK Titan invitational. Makenna Thurston poses the greatest threat to Hill as she looks to defend her title she won in this race from last year. Thurston has been extremely consistent so far this year, running under 20 minute in each of her four races. After Thurston comes three more ranked athletes in the form of Katherine Geist of Crookston, Lexi Bright of West Central, and Kira Sweeney of Staples-Motley. Geist has also bee really consistent this season with all four of her races finishing just a bit over 20 minutes, and winning two of them. Bright is new to the rankings after having great success through five races this year, winning her most recent two. Sweeney doesn't appear to be in as good of form as she was last year, but has also rattled off a few wins and consistent times through the first portion of the year. Off the rankings we have Frazee's Ellie Morgan, who finished 34th at State last year and has the fourth-fastest time in the field for 2017. Marshall Duluth's Ashlee Siegle won her first meet of the season last week and will be hoping to ride that momentum into the top ten. Another to keep an eye on is Grace Feder, from GFW, who has PR'd in every race this season. And finally, as a wild card, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted's Gracie Mallak ran 18:50 in her first meet this year, and hasn't run since due to injury. If she is able to race, it could change the gameplan of a lot of runners.
On the team side of things, Maple Lake, led by freshman Augustus Demarais, will look to take the title, solidifying their position in the top ten class A team rankings. Coming in the second slot of the virtual meet is surprisingly the unranked Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, riding on the back of both Thurson and an effective fifth runner. You will need to keep an eye out for the 11th ranked Providence girls to round out the top 3 teams as well. But of course, if Gracie Mallak is able to compete for Howard Lake, then all bets are off in the team competition.
The boys 1A race sees the contest of four ranked Class A boys. Lucas Pierson of Saint James Area, ranked seventh in class A, who impressively finished 7th in the 3200 meter at Track State this past fall, set a 45 second PR in his second race of this season, and has the best time in the field this year (16:26). Jacob Bright, of West Central Area, sits ninth in the coaches rankings. The talented youngster finished 20th at last year's State cross country meet which was the top finish of any freshman. Ada-Borup's Christian Sterton is ranked 10th in the latest polls, entering the rankings after a 16:39 run at his home invitational, where his team also put up an impressive performance. And then there is Emmet Anderson of Staples Motley, who was one of the top three middle schoolers at State Cross Country last fall and enters the day ranked 8th in class A. Beyond those five ranked athletes, the unranked Alec Ille of Blooming Prairie has posted the fifth fastest seed time, and his season has included two wins and a runner-up. Southwest Christian's Jebediah Merkel entered the season being ranked after an impressive track season, but has not raced much this season yet, so we're still not quite sure what he could be capable of. Crookston's Ben Andringa, Howard Lake's Noah Bundrock, and Loyola's Mitch Johnstone will also have to have an eye kept out for them.
The boys team competition will be thrilling. Second-ranked Mankato Loyola, who finished 12th as a team in state last fall, emerge as the favorites with a virtual meet score of 133, but it also says the race is going to be very close. Saint James, ranked 10th in Class A, is only three points behind Loyola with 136 points, which is the benefit of having an excellent lowstick. Nova Classical Academy is expected to finish 3rd in 212 points, even after losing phenom Lucas Mueller. From top to bottom, they have put together a very strong team. Perhaps most fascinating to watch though will be the boys from Ada-Borup. Offering an average spread of about a minute for their top five runners, Ada-Borup will look to put their claim in for a ranking as they have performed remarkably well so far this season. Let by Christian Stern, who could challenge for a top five spot, don't sleep on the boys from Ada-Borup.