Conference Championships Begin

2017 Minnesota XC Meet Previews

Oct 10, 2017

International Falls Hile Pike Invitational

Weather: Low 50's, sunny, light wind

BOYS

Top Teams: GNK (35 points), Grand Rapids (53), International Falls (86)

Top Individuals: Geno Uhrbom (GNK, 15:48), Tyler Norgord (Grand Rapids, 16:45), Taran Howard (Northland/Deer River, 17:02), Garrett Beckrich (Grand Rapids, 17:02), Greg Peterson (GNK, 17:03)

The Skinny: In what will virtually be a preview of the Iron Range Conference Championships next week, GNK and Geno Uhrbom will get one last tune up before their biggest races of the season. Uhrbom is obviously the overwhelming favorite, but there will be a great battle taking place behind him individually. On the team front, Grand Rapids will want to finish as close to GNK as they can and gain as much momentum as possible going into the Section 7AA championships, which they have a great shot at finishing top-two. But the momentum will be just as important to GNK and their Section 7A, which suddenly became a lot more crowded after North Shore's Swain victory

GIRLS

Top Teams: Mesabi East (49 points), Hibbing (62), Eveleth-Gilbert (81), GNK (84)

Top Individuals: Ava Hill (Mesabi East, 18:45), Emma Stertz (Grand Rapid, 19:23), Bella Thomas (Mesabi East, 20:23)

The Skinny: Ava Hill just lost her first race of the season at Swain, but the super-rookie is still one of the most intimidating runners in Class A for good reason. She's already beaten Stertz twice this season, but to Stertz's credit, she was the runner up in both races. But don't be fooled by the one-minute different between Stertz's season best and that of Bella Thomas, as Thomas (a seventh-grader) as been improving rapidly this season and will certainly challenge Stertz. There won't be many runners in the same range as those three runners, however, and Mesabi East will hope to ride their top top runners to a team win, though Hibbing could be a challenge thanks to their better depth and tight spread.