Division 2 (Large Schools)
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Austin (96), Sartell-Saint Stephen (103), Red River (105), Hutchinson (122)
Top Individuals: Alex Nemeth (Sartell, 15:51), Henry Hinchcliffe (Austin, 15:57), Zach Matzner (Marshall, 16:22), Jake Arason (Red River, 16:24), Mitchell Grand (16:24), Aidan Ripp (Cloquet, 16:25), Metijwok Omod (Austin, 16:25), Tanner Olson (Detroit Lakes, 16:28)
The Skinny: Alex Nemeth and Henry Hinchcliffe headline the Division 2 boys competition, and are the only two runners in the field who have broken 16 in their career. Nemeth has yet to race this season as he didn't compete with his teammates at Lucky Lindy, so it'll be interesting to see if he actually does race Milaca. Hinchcliffe, on the other hand, raced at the Lake City Invite on Tuesday, where he placed 6th and broke 17 for the first time this season. He will either have a quick turnaround for this event or will also sit this one out- we won't know for sure until the gun fires. A very strong chase pack should develop behind these two, as only 6 seconds separate the PRs of athletes, being Zach Matzner, Jake Arason, Mitchell Grand, Aidan Ripp, Metijwok Omod, and Tanner Olson (who is actually the defending champion of the AAA race last year). All of these runners are upperclassmen and have a lot of experience running up front, so it'll be interesting to see if they can push each other to some fast times. Meti Omod will be another interesting name to look out for, as he's coming off a big win at the Lake City Invite over Hinchcliffe, and ran a 16:25 PR there. We will have to see if that was the breakout race he needed to get up with the top athletes in the state.
On the team side, Austin should just edge out Sartell for the victory. This will be contingent on whether their frontrunners toe the line or not, as without Hinchcliffe Austin is projected to take 4th with 168 points, and without Nemeth Sartell is projected to take third scoring 123 points. Red River, traveling from North Dakota, could come in to snatch the win in that case, as they would have 3 of the fastest 15 runners in the field and would be projected to score 95 points. Hutchinson could also be in the mix for a top podium finish, as almost all of their top 7 runners PRed in their early season meet at the Orono Twilight. They have a solid 5, but their depth is shaky, so if one runner has a less than ideal race they could be in trouble in the team standings.
(written by Adam Wilkinson)
Virtual Meet Projections: Marshall (64), Grand Forks Central (77), Sartell-Saint Stephen (161.5), Waconia (181)
Top Individuals: Alexis Roehl (Grand Forks Central, 17:58), Mikayla Weiss (Grand Forks Central, 18:20), Abigail Lewis (Austin, 18:53), Ingrid Buiceag-Arama (Sartell-Saint Stephen, 18:54), Kaleesa Houston (Waconia, 18:55), Kaia Sueker (Marshall, 19:00), Margaret Dalseth (Visitation, 19:01)
The Skinny: The Minnesota team from Marshall, ranked tenth in Class AA, will be challenged by the team from North Dakota of Grand Forks Central. Marshall has been continuing to rise this season and have reentered the top twelve rankings after falling from their preseason ranking of seventh. It will be interesting to see how they fare against one of North Dakota's top teams Behind those two teams are a couple other schools having very solid under-the-radar seasons so far in Sartell and Waconia. The two teams are very similarly-structured with one great low stick (Ingrid Buiceag-Arama for Sartell, who was the AAA runner-up last year, and Kaleesa Houston for Waconia, who's season best so far is 19:08), followed by some solid depth where there is no clearly-projected top-seven. It is possible that Wisconsin's New Richland could factor into the team standings as well.
In year's past, GFC has had Mikayla Weiss and Alexis Roehl trading position of their number one runner and even finished eighth and ninth at last year's state meet, respectively. However, Weiss is off to a tough start to her season, having not run better than 20:12 so far. If that trend continues, that will leave a large impact on the team scoring without the one-two finish that is projected. Meanwhile, Abigail Lewis has put her own slow start far behind her with a huge win earlier this week in Lake City, running 18:53 for her best time since 2015 (and that old time came on a course of suspect validity). With a win at Milaca, Lewis might just vault herself into the conversation of being ranked in Class AA. Another runner coming off an eye-opening race is Visitation's Margaret Dalseth, who's 19:01 run at a blazing-hot Applejack Invitational earned her an 11th-place nod in the polls. The aforementioned Kaleesa Houston and Ingrid-Buiceag-arama will also be in the mix, both having narrowly missed All-State accolades last year with a 26th and 30th place finish, respectively. Marshall's Kaia Sueker could be a factor in the individual race too. The individual race should come down to Roehl, Lewis, Buiceag-arama, and Houston but Roehl has the top accolades of the group.
(written by Emma Benner)