It's Championships Galore On Conference Tuesday!

2017 Minnesota XC Meet Previews

Oct 17, 2017

Tomahawk Conference Championships

Weather: 70 and sunny, 47% humidity, 5 MPH wind

BOYS

Top Teams: G-F-W, (26 points) Springfield (78 points), Minnesota Valley Lutheran (78 points)

Top Individuals: Ryan Albrecht (G-F-W, 16:45), Javie Victorino (G-F-W, 16:57), Mitchell Buerkle (Springfield, 17:14), Will Pioske (G-F-W, 17:32), Elijah Kirschstein (Springfield, 17:40)

The Skinny: The weather forecast is looking just about perfect for the Tomahawk Conference Championship on Tuesday, which the runners will appreciate on this challenging course. There hasn't been a sub-17 time recorded in years. To put that in perspective, last year's winner, Javie Victorino, won with a time of 17:48, but then ran 17:06 the next week at the Section 2A Championships. However, this race will still provide spectators with solid, competitive racing to watch, as the individual competition could be very close. G-F-W teammates Ryan Albrecht and the defending champion, Javie Victorino, should be very close to each other. The team competition shouldn't be close at all, as the virtual meet has G-F-W dominating, with just 26 points.

GIRLS

Top Teams: Wabasso (70 points) Sleepy Eye Saint Marys (72 points) Minnesota Valley Lutheran (73 points) Springfield (76 points) G-F-W (83 points)

Top Individuals: Grace Feder (G-F-W, 20:06), Brianna Polesky (Sleepy Eye, 20:55), Abby Nelson (Minnesota Valley Lutheran, 21:04), Abigail Hagen (Sleepy Eye, 21:05), Noelle Olson (Minnesota Valley Lutheran, 21:24)

The Skinny: The team competition in this race is looking like it'll be ridiculously close. In the virtual meet, we have just 13 points separating the top 5 teams in the conference, and just 6 points separating the top 4 teams. As the slight favorite, Wabasso has the tightest pack by far, with just a PR spread of 1:01, they will be hurt by the fact that they don't have a clear frontrunner, as no one on their team has broken 22 minutes. The individual competition may not be nearly as close as the team competition. Grace Feder of G-F-W has the fastest PR by about 50 seconds, with a time of 20:06. Unless something surprising happens, look for Feder to win this race in convincing fashion.