One More Massive Day - Thursday Sections

2017 Minnesota XC Meet Previews
Milesplit MN Staff

Section 7A Championships

Location: Cloquet Country Club

Weather: Mid-40s, mostly cloudy, good chance of rain (especially in the afternoon)

BOYS

Season Best Projection: Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin (59 points), North Shore (98), Ely (113)

Season Average Projection:  Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin (61), Esko (79), North Shore (107), Ely (112)

Top Individuals: Geno Uhrbom (GNK, 15:48), Wyatt Rauvola (Cromwell-Floodwood, 16:27), Ethan Olson (Moose Lake-Willow River, 16:29), Luke Olson (Ely, 16:38), Jake Paron (North Shore, 16:46), Taran Howard (Northland-Deer River, 16:55), Noah Smith (North Shore, 16:56)

The Skinny: As strong a lead as GNK seems to hold based on our projections, it is fair to point out that they have suffered a few key losses this year (in particular to Esko at the Milaca Mega Meet) that show they are certainly not invulnerable. For that reason, Esko would seem to be the next logical choice for a state-qualifying birth, but they themselves were beaten at Swain by North Shore, and have a few other key losses. The real wild card is Ely, who started the season out slow, but have picked up a lot of steam in the past few weeks and have finished within striking distance of all three of the other favorites in the section. However, the individual competition will be a lot more certain than the teams. Geno Uhrbom is in the middle of one of the most dominant freshman years ever for a Minnesota boy, and with how strong a track record he has developed this year, it would take something extreme to see him not take the individual title here. And that is even in spite of the great competition he will be facing, including previous top-ten finishers Ethan Olson and Jake Paron. 

GIRLS

Season Best Projection: Proctor (63 points), North Shore (120), Ely (125), Mesabi East (131)

Season Average Projection: Proctor (73 points), North Shore (105), Mesabi East (128), Ely (129)

Top Individuals: Ava Hill (Mesabi East, 18:45), Hannah Bettendorf (Proctor, 19:49), Brooke Niska (Mountain Iron-Buhl, 20:11), Ashlee Siegle (Marshall School Duluth, 20:14), Ryne Prigge (Ely, 20:20)

The Skinny: Like GNK on the boys side, the margins between Proctor and the teams trailing them in the virtual meets is deceptive, as their season has been marked by a lot of injuries and inconsistencies. The past two meets have finally seen Proctor pull everything together and moving in the right direction, so if that is any indication they would to be headed for a strong section title. Behind them is yet another very tight, very interesting battle with North Shore, Mesabi East, and Ely duking it out. Making it more interesting is the fact that other than Mesabi East's Ava Hill, none of these teams have a true ace up their sleeve, so their sucess will depend a lot on who steps up the most for their respective squads. As for the individual competition, Ava Hill has been almost untouchable this year and there is no reason to suspect anything different, especially since no other runner is in the same league as what Hill has accomplished. The battle for second will be much tighter and much more interesting.