PREVIEW
Waconia Run of the Lakes Invite
Location: Crown College, St. Bonifacius
Weather: High 60s, decent chance of rain, 70% humidity
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projection: Buffalo (33), Chanhassen (64), Waconia (111), Mankato East (113)
Top Individuals: Nicholas Scheller (Chanhassen, 15:20), Isaac Basten (Buffalo, 15:36), Torin Christianson (Chanhassen, 15:49), Nick Oak (Buffalo, 16:24), John Starkey (Chaska, 16:24), Dylan Schaefer (Chaska, 16:29), Drew Hastings (Belle Plaine, 16:30), Zach Long (Chanhassen, 16:39), Lane Schwarz (LeSueur-Henderson, 16:41), Nels Trandahl (Rockford, 16:42)
The Skinny: 6th-ranked Isaac Basten will match up with 7th-ranked Nick Scheller in a battle of heavyweights. In their one previous matchup this year, Basten edged out Scheller by 5 seconds at the Hopkins Bauman/Rovn Invitational. The next fastest season best is Nick Oak, and he should be expected to lead the chase pack with Drew Hastings, who's ranked 8th in Class A. Lane Schwarz and Nels Trandahl have had very strong starts to their years, and never count out Chanhassen's duo of Zach Long and Torin Christianson. Long has had a very promising return after missing nearly all of last season with injury, while Christianson was 13th at State last season. On the team side, the 7th-ranked Buffalo boys are expected to win comfortably. The depth of the Bison outweighs Chanhassen's dominant trio, though Long, Christianson, and Scheller should lead their squad to 2nd in a fairly large field. However, one important thing to note is that Chanhassen just raced at the Metro Invitational on Saturday, so this race is a fairly quick turnaround for them. Lastly, the Waconia boys 33 second 1-5 split is phenomenal on paper, and that makes them the favorite for 3rd.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projection: Belle Plaine (75), Waconia (77), Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (90)
Top Individuals: Meghan Pierson (Chanhassen, 18:21), Gracie Mallak (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, 18:49), Miranda Gilbertson (Chanhassen, 18:46), Kaleesa Houston (Waconia, 18:55), Ava Cusciotta (Rockford, 19:28), Lizzy Schmidt (Belle Plaine, 19:36)
The Skinny: Though the girls race lacks some of the fire power of the boys, there should still be some tight battles here. Individually, Kaleesa Houston has gotten off to a strong start, breaking 19:10 in both of her last two efforts. Meghan Pierson's first 5k of the season was a very quick 19:22, but will have only had three days since her previous race at the Metro Invitational. At State last fall, Pierson finished one spot (and just a second) behind Houston, so these two are clearly very similar speeds. Expect a close finish. Gracie Mallak is the only other girl to have broken 20:00 on the year, so she should be favored to lead the pursuit, with Miranda Gilbertson and Mckenna Herrmann close behind. In the virtual meet, Waconia, Belle Plaine, and Howard Lake-Waverly Winsted all finish within 15 points of each other. When the three faced off at the Tri-City United Gerry Smith Invitational, Waconia emerged at the front. Belle Plaine, currently ranked 4th in Class A, finished one spot and 30 points back of Waconia, while 7th-ranked HLWW was just 12 behind. With just 13 points between Belle Plaine and HLWW in the virtual meet, the Class A rankings could get a mix up after this race. Expect an extremely close battle.
(written by Sam O'Donnell-Hoff)