Pine Island Invite
(rescheduled to September 24th)
Location: Pine Island Golf Course, Pine Island
Weather: 70s, thunderstorms, high humidity
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projection: Byron (37.5), Lewiston-Altura (59.5), Rochester Lourdes (66)
Top Individuals: Luke O'hare (Lewiston-Altura, 17:22), Tanner Horton (Pine Island, 17:22), Mitchell Ledebuhr (Lewiston-Altura, 17:58), Nathan Jacobs (Byron, 17:58)
The Skinny: This will be Luke O'hare's second season of cross country and he has already seen large jumps in performances where he grabbed his first two individual wins and a big personal best. He ended his season last year after the conference championships so it will be interesting to watch him throughout this year when stacking up against strong competition. He will be challenged today by Tanner Horton of Pine Island. Horton qualified for the state championships last year and he is already off to a stronger start to his season than last year's. O'hare missed the win at this meet last year by one second but finished ahead of Horton, who finished third. With identical personal bests of 17:22, it should be a closely matched race for the win again this year. The team race will also be very close with the team from Byron seeming to be the most dominant. However, Lewiston-Altura Rochester Lourdes will not be far off.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projection: Rochester Lourdes (28), Byron (77)
Top Individuals: Natasha Sortland (Zumbrota-Mazeppa, 18:37), Lauryn Renier (Rochester Lourdes, 19:53), Kaylee Arndt (Lanesboro, 20:03), Margaret Degen (Rochester Lourdes, 20:44)
The Skinny: The individual race will likely be dominated by one of Class A's top young talents in Natasha Sortland, assuming she runs as she also is set to defend her Milaca Mega Meet title in two days. If she runs, however, she probably won't need to run all out to get the win, but of couse, anything can happen on race day. This race will be interesting to watch to see how close they finish and if Malone can put her name into the rankings from this performance. The team race should be lead by the squad from Rochester Lourdes, entering the day with five girls among the top nine PRs in the field, and while most of those times are from last year, one that isn't is Lauryn Renier's 19:53 - she is projected to finish runner-up. This is right around the time of year for runners to really start dropping times, so watch out for Lourdes.
(written by Emma Benner)