Huge Day With Big Meets, Talented Teams, & Great Runners

Weather: Mid 70's, partly cloudy, big wind gusts

BOYS

Top Individuals: Luke Olson (Ely, 16:20), Aidan Ripp (Cloquet, 16:25), Cameron Stocke (Virginia, 16:25), Taran Howard (Deer River/Northland, 16:50), Noah Smith (North Shore, 16:54), James Schwinghamer (Ely, 16:57), Jacob Gontjes (Marshall School - Duluth, 17:03), Blaine Bong (Cloquet, 17:17)

The Skinny: Split between the Class AA and Class A schools, the Eveleth Lions Invite is one of the biggest meets in Northern Minnesota until Swain comes along, and while the Class AA portion only contains a handful of schools, the A race is worth the price of admission (if there was one). That's not to say that the Class AA race lacks talent. Cloquet and Duluth East have both made frequent trips to the State Championships as teams, and Cloquet's Aiden Ripp is a returning top-50 finisher at State, and all of them will be the favorites today (Cloquet returns 5 runners with PRs of 17:40 or better). It is worth noting, however, that Ripp has not run yet this year. But with 19 teams in the Class A portion, including one ranked in Class A's poll in North Shore (and one that probably should be in Ely), there will be a lot to look out for here. The virtual meet has Ely coming out on top here, but with North Shore finishing a surprise 5th at State last year, they can't be counted out. Ranked individuals Luke Olson and Cameron Stocke will face each other for the second time this year after Olson got the better of them in their season opener (although Geno Uhrbom was the winner of that particular race). After those two runners comes a plethora of other very good runners who, on a good day, can certainly mix it up with Olson or Stocke. Schwinghammer, Gontjes, and Nelson all in particular should be watched, as all three of them have started out hot this year with either a PR, or close to one.

GIRLS

Top Individuals: Ava Hill (Mesabi East, 18:11), Molly Weberg (Duluth East, 19:49), Rebecca Miles (Duluth East, 19:53), Lauren Cawcutt (Cloquet, 19:56), Ashlee Siegle (Marshall School - Duluth, 19:56), Sydney Binsfield (Proctor, 20:03), Bella Thomas (Mesabi East, 20:10)

The Skinny: Much like on the girls side, the Class AA race is small, but certainly not devoid to talent, while it is the Class A race that will carry all the implications. Duluth East figures to come away with the win for the AA race as the virtual meet projects a minuscule 21 points for the Greyhounds, and they have already beaten Hibbing this year (though they lost to Cloquet whilst holding out their varsity team). This will be the fourth race this year for Duluth East's varsity, and Molly Weberg is looking for a title defense and her second win of the season. On the Class A side, the team battle could have huge implications going into Sections, as last year the squads of Proctor, North Shore, and Mesabi East finished within three points of one another, and Mesabi East missed going to State on a tiebreaker (partly due to their huge three-and-a-half minute 1-5 spread). But Proctor has already received a boost thanks to having a healthy Sydney Binsfield, who last year missed all but her first race of the cross country season (then went on to qualify for State in track in the 3200m last spring). With both Sydney and her sister Morgan healthy, Proctor does look like they have a leg up on North Shore and Mesabi East, although Mesabi East looked very strong in their season debut. North Shore is still a bit of a mystery at this point, with only one race under their belt on a tough course, so this race will be big in determining where they stand. However, individually, we don't expect there to be much of a battle - barring something drastic, Ava Hill will win this race, and she'll probably win by a landslide, much like she did all of last season, and like what she did in the 800m last spring when she easily won her second straight State title in the event.

(written by Mark Rice)