Conference Championships Begin - Tuesday Meets

Weather: Low 50's,  partly cloudly, light wind, chance of rain


BOYS

Top Teams: Plainview-Elgin-Millville (46 points), RAACHE (56), Saint Charles (95)

Top Individuals: Josiah Eide (RAACHE, 16:36), Nick Meyer (Wabasha-Kellogg, 16:48), Caleb Jones (RAACHE, 16:49), Axel Daood (Saint Charles, 17:07), Samson Hagen (Plainview-Elgin-Millville, 17:10)

The Skinny: After a disappointing Swain Invitational, P-E-M hopes to get things back on track. Their spread is their greatest strength, but they will need every bit of it to hold off RAACHE's pure star power. That said, Josiah Eide has been struggling his past few races, presumably as he recovers from an injury that made him miss a meet earlier this year. RAACHE will need a healthy Eide in order to compete, but if he is not able to run well, teammate Caleb Jones and Wabasha's Nick Meyer will still have a great battle for the win.

GIRLS 

Top Teams: Dover-Eyota (58), RAACHE (71), Class A #6 Winona Cotter (81)

Top Individuals: Grace Ping (Winona Cotter, 17:45), Lauren Ping (Winona Cotter, 18:21), Madeline Perry (RAACHE, 19:13), Grace Castleberg (RAACHE, 20:01), Kaylee Arndt (Lanesboro/Fillmore Central, 20:03), Madilyn Simon (Plainview-Elgin-Millville, 20:06)

The Skinny: When Grace Ping ran this meet two year ago, she went 17:23 and won by nearly three minutes. The margin of victory will not be nearly as dramatic today, thanks to both her sister Lauren and the under-the-radar heroics of Madeline Perry, who has quietly been putting together one of the best seasons for any Class A girl, with two wins and five top-three finishes. But while Cotter owns the #6 ranking, their six-minute spread works against them in a smaller meet like this as the 76-second spread of Dover-Eyota allows even their number 5 runner to score relatively few points. But if Cotter (or even RAACHE, for that matter) can cut their spread down to a reasonable amount, they will be very difficult to beat.