The Calm Before The Storm - Monday Meets

2017 Minnesota XC Meet Previews
Milesplit MN Staff

Red Rock Conference Championships

Location: Slayton Golf Course

Weather: 65 degrees, very sunny, some wind, 80% humidity

BOYS

Top Teams: Mountain Lake (23 points), Murray County Central (32)

Top Individuals: Nathan Runck (Mountain Lake, 16:45), Brady Henning (Adrian, 17:16), Dalton Piotter (Mountain Lake, 17:22), Justin Clarke (Murray County Central, 17:24)

The Skinny: Claiming six of the top 12 spots according to season best times, one would think this competition would be in Mountain Lake's pocket, but Murray County Central also owns five of the top ten season bests. It wouldn't take much more than a couple switches to erase the nine-point advantage owned by Mountain Lake in the virtual meet, especially when every other team is so far behind those two. Individually, it's hard to expect anyone other than Nathan Runck taking the win, considering his consistency in both time (his top five times this year are within 12 seconds) and place (he has been in the top two in all but one of his races).

GIRLS

Top Teams: Murray County Central (42 points), Southwest Minnesota Christian (52), Heron Lake-Okabena (66)

Top Individuals: Morgan Gehl (Murray County Central, 18:43), Mikayla Johnson (Southwest Minnesota Christian, 20:52), Moriah Bullerman (Adrian, 20:57)

The Skinny: Few conference individual battles are expected to be as one-sided as this one, as 12th-ranked Morgan Gehl owns a season-best over two minutes faster than her nearest competition while coming off an impressive career-best time of 18:43 at the Adrian Invitational. Her highly-expected individual win will spearhead an MCC Rebel effort to achieve a conference championship, but they don't have a big cushion over their competition from Southwest Minnesota Christian or Heron Lake-Okabena. Gehl's teammates will be important in making a team win happen.