Mora And Norwood Are Sites Of Big Invitationals Today

PREVIEW

Norwood-Young America Lions Invitational

Location: Baylor Park, Norwood

Weather: Sunny, high 70s, with strong wind

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (86), Jordan (121), Mound-Westonka (133)

Top Individuals: Drew Hastings (Belle Plaine, 16:30), Mitch Johnstone (Mankato Loyola/Cleveland, 16:33), Hugo Ruiz (Tri-City United, 16:37), Lane Schwarz (LeSueur-Henderson, 16:41), Nels Trandahl (Rockford, 16:42), Symon Keiser (Jordan, 16:43), Bailey More (St. Peter, 16:51)

The Skinny: This race will be a heavyweight battle between some of the best of Class A. Drew Hastings is fresh off of a breakout race at the Tri-City United Gerry Smith Invitational, in which he PRed and took his first ever victory in cross country. Even more impressive, he took down Hugo Ruiz, Mitch Johnstone, and Lane Schwarz, three of the top athletes he'll face again today. After that performance, Hastings entered the Class A rankings at 6th. Ruiz, currently ranked 7th, also had a strong performance, running a new personal best of 16:37 for 2nd, with Johnstone and Schwarz finishing behind Ruiz in that order. Each of those four should all be in contention for the win, as each were within 20 seconds of each other at that meet. Johnstone and Schwarz currently sit in the 9th and 11th spot in the coach's poll. Symon Keiser was All-State last year, and though he's started the year a bit behind where he was a year ago, he could be in the mix as he gets into better shape. And watch out for Nels Trandahl, who has quietly had a very strong start to his season. He's finished 1st and 2nd in his two races. On the team side, the 3rd ranked Mankato Loyola/Cleveland boys should be expected to win by a decent margin. At Tri-City, they took down the 2nd ranked St. James team to finish 3rd. Jordan, Tri-City United, Mound Westonka, and St. Peter went 10-13 there, so they should all be fighting for 2nd.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Belle Plaine (44), Jordan (91), Rockford (105)

Top Individuals: Makenna Thurston (Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, 18:54), Izzy Lind (St. Peter, 19:14), Ava Cusciotta (Rockford, 19:28), Malayh Metcalf (Glencoe-Silver Lake, 19:56), Sarah Karline (Jordan, 20:03), Grace Feder (Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, 20:06), Jordyn Williams (Belle Plaine, 20:07)

The Skinny: Like in the boys race, some of the top talent in Class A will be present this afternoon. 6th ranked Makenna Thurston will be doing the pace setting, as she's already off to a torrid start this season. She's finished 3rd in both of her races against top tier competition. After Thurston, Lind is off to the next best start to the year, with a solid 20:09 time at the Tri-City United Gerry Smith Invitational. That's 17 seconds quicker than what she ran there in 2017. Behind them, there's a sizeable group of runners who all seem to be in the same ballpark, so expect a tight chase pack. Lizzy Schmidt beat most of the other top competitors here at Tri-City, so she should be near the front of that group. And Ava Cusciotta was All-State last season and opened with a 20:30, so keep an eye out for her as well. Team wise, the Belle Plaine girls are ranked 4th in Class A and return their entire varsity from last season. They also recently took down fellow ranked squads Stewartville, Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted and Fairmont. Jordan and Rockford should compete for second. Keep an eye out for the solid Jordan team that only lost one runner from its 9th place finish at State a year ago.

(written by Sam O'Donnell-Hoff)