PREVIEW
Maple River Invitational
Location: Daly Park, Mapleton
Weather: 79, Mostly Cloudy, Slight chance of rain
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Sibley East (67), Medford (87), Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Walford-Pemberton (87)
Top Individuals: Grant Strukel (Blue Earth, 16:49), Jens Lundstrom (Sibley East, 17:32), Travis Andrews (Sibley East, 17:55), Tyler Stursa (Medford, 18:22), Brady Olsen (Blue Earth, 18:23)
The Skinny: Expect Sibley East to win this meet for their first team win of the year. The race for second could be a good one with Medford and WEM/JWP projected to finish within one point of each other. Expect the virtual meet projections to be right as Sibley East beat both Medford and WEM both at the Gerry Smith Invitational and Medford beating WEM/JWP at both the Gerry Smith Invitational and the Fairmont Early Bird Invite. On the individual side Grant Strukel will look to dominate this meet as no one in this meet has run within 40 seconds of him and continue his way towards his first PR since State last fall. Between his first and second race this season he lowered his 5k time by 50.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projection: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown/Janesville-Walford-Pemberton (43), Sibley East (66), United South Central/Alden-Conger (93)
Top Individuals: Addison Peed (WEM/JWP, 20:10), Lauran Dimler (WEM/JWP, 20:18), Sylvia Rodriguez (Madelia/Truman, 20:29)
The Skinny: Look for the girls side of the team races to be pretty clear cut. According to the virtual meet projections, each of the top three teams will be separated by a 20-30 point gap in the results. The only competition for a top three finish might come from Blue Earth and Minnesota Valley Lutheran who are projected for 102 and 105 points respectively. On the Individual side it looks to be a two horse race between WEM teammates Addison Peed and Lauran Dimler. Give the edge to Peed who PR'd in her last race at the Gerry Smith Invitational and is looking for her first high school win.
(written by Ryan Kotajarvi)