A Mega Preview For A Mega Meet


Division 4 (Small Schools)

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: West Central Area (96.5), Saint James (170.5), Lac Qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd (177.5), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (205)

Top Individuals: Harris Anderson (Math and Science Academy, 16:02), Jacob Bright (West Central Area, 16:10), Noah Stewart (Morris, 16:25), Wyatt Rauvola (Cromwell-Wright, 16:27), Mikey Kvaal (Lac Qui Parle Valley, 16:29), Mitch Johnstone (Mankato Loyola, 16:33)

The Skinny: This race will be a big one for the Class A team rankings with Mankato Loyola/Cleveland ranked second, Saint James ranked third, West Central Area ranked fourth, and Lac Qui Parle Valley ranked seventh. This season LQPV and WCA have raced each other twice and each team has been victorious over the other once. Saint James has also been victorious over LQPV recently. The others have not matched up yet this season, so this race will be a big test to the rankings, as well as a preview of some of the top teams that will be challenging for podium finishes come the state meet. West Central Area's margin of victory in the virtual meet is probably inflated a bit due to their appearances on so fast courses this year (while the other top contenders have not yet run on courses of similar caliber, but their team matchups since, and the matchups of their opposing teams since, indicate that they might be for real. Nothing would validate WCA's success this season more than a win in this race.

The individual race will be just as exciting as Harris Anderson will headline the race, coming in ranked second in Class A. But the ranked runners don't stop there, as the race also features sixth-ranked Mitch Johnstone, 9th-ranked Jacob Bright, and 12th-ranked Noah Stewart. Bright actually was the highest finisher of the three at last year's state meet, finishing ninth ahead of Anderson's tenth and Johnstone's 17th, while Stewart didn't even qualify for State last fall. Anderson, Bright, and Johnstone have not raced each other at all this season, while Stewart has finished behind Bright twice so far by less than ten seconds each time. It will be a fun one to watch to see how they stack up with each other's tough competition. LQPV's top running duo of Mikey Kvall and Ezekiel Sather will also be factors in the individual race, while runners like Wyatt Rauvola of Cromwell/Floodwood, Grant Strukel of Blue Earth Area, and Taran Howard of Deer River/Northland can start making a big name for themselves with a great run here too.

(written by Emma Benner)


GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projections: West Central Area (117), Providence Academy (151.5), Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (203), Canby/Minneota (241), Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd (266.5)

Top Individuals: Tierney Wolfgram (Math and Science Academy, 16:48), Ava Hill (Mesabi East, 18:11), Grace Drietz (Canby, 18:32), Makenna Thurston (Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial, 18:54), Lexi Bright (West Central Area, 19:21), Madeline Kelly (Providence Academy, 19:34)

The Skinny: You are not going to want to miss this race. The race is headlined by US#7 Tierney Wolfgram, whose talent speaks for itself as a two-time defending State Champion with the number one ranking in Class A. She is followed by three more ranked runners of Makenna Thurston, Ava Hill, and Grace Drietz who are ranked sixth, seventh, and twelfth, respectively. Wolfgram has only raced once in which she placed second to the Class AA standout of Emily Covert. Wolfgram's performance should not be overlooked because she was only 20 seconds behind Covert, something that not many runners in the nation are able to do. The race behind Wolfgram of Hill, Drietz, and Thurston will be just as interesting as none of them have raced each other yet this season. Drietz is a fun one to watch as she is seeing great improvements from her 17th place finish at last year's state meet and has already set a 50 second personal best, well ahead of where she was at this point last year. Hill is undefeated this season but Thurston and Drietz have been racing against arguably harder competition, as only once has a runner finished within 50 second of Hill in a race so far. One other name to watch closely is Madeline Kelly, the former All-State runner who has come back strong from knee surgery this fall.

West Central Area is the team that is projected to win with a solid margin of victory, but we feel that it is Providence Academy who should be considered the favorite in this race. Providence has been having a great start to their season, made even better by the return of Kelly. Of course, the rest of Providence's team has been running very well too, and their fifth-place ranking in the polls are well deserved. WCA has certainly been having a solid season, and they are the defending champions of this race, but their place in the virtual meet is inflated a bit by their times from last year, which have not yet been approached so far this season. Some other teams we'll need to keep a close eye on this race are EVWK, Canby/Minneota, and LQPVDB. Canby in particular will be interesting to watch as their last race in South Dakota saw them run a few eye-opening times with a lot of PRs, so it will be interesting to see how well they can back those times up tomorrow.

(written by Emma Benner)

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