PREVIEW
Paynesville Invite
Location: Koronis Golf Course, Paynesville
Weather: Low 50's, wet
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Melrose (47), Benson/KMS (83), Paynesville (88)
Top Individuals: Samuel Ringger (Sauk Rapids-Rice, 16:09), Preston Poepping (Melrose, 17:07), Preston Carlson (Paynesville, 17:14), Nathan Douvier (Melrose, 17:25)
The Skinny: Don't let their placement in Milaca fool you (they were running without two of their top three runners), Melrose's under-the-radar success is starting to grow more and more evident, and nothing said that more than their fourth place finish at New London-Spicer behind three teams ranked in the top four in Class A two weeks ago. They should take a solid win in this race assuming they are able to run with a full squad. If not, Benson (who did have a full squad at Milaca and had a solid showing) will be eager to move up into first place, and Paynesville might challenge too. But on the individual side, there is little reason to expect anyone other than Sam Ringger to come away with the win, even if Preston Poepping and Preston Carlson are both on the verge of the 17-minute barrier. Ringger's season best of 16:17 and lifetime best of 16:09 blows away the rest of the field, and he is no stranger to individual victories having won this meet last year (albeit in his slowest time of the year of 17:18), plus five other races in his career.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: Rocori (17), Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (52)
Top Individuals: Merideth Theis (Rocori, 19:49), Melanie Illies (Rocori, 19:53), Carley Kraemer (Rocori, 20:05), Laina Viere (Rocori, 20:06), Sophia Kluber (Sauk Centre, 20:09)
The Skinny: Rocori has easily the strongest team on paper, and are coming off a great showing at their home invitational where the were runners-up to Willmar. With two runners havign already run PRs and two other very close, Rocori has a legitimate shot at a perfect score. The best chance for that not to happen in Sauk Centre's Sophia Kluber, who is in the middle of her best season yet and has been a top-three finisher (with two wins) in every race she's run other than finishing 13th at Milaca. But interestingly, the biggest question mark is also one of the favorites to win in Merideth Theis, the 8th grader from Rocori. The reason she's a question mark is because she only just ran her first high school 5K of her career last week after running in the junior high races prior to that (where, of course, she broke 20 minutes and ran the top time in the field). With so much potential, and now the experience of having raced the 5K distance, seeing what she is capable of the rest of the season will be fun to watch.
(written by Mark Rice)