Over A Dozen Meets Make Up Massive Day Of Racing

2018 Minnesota XC Meet Previews
Milesplit MN Staff

PREVIEW

Osseo Invitational

Weather: 60 and cloudy

Location: Elm Creek Park, Maple Grove, MN

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Centennial (22), Osseo (43)

Top Individuals: Mackinon Mokoro (Osseo, 16:28), Thomas Marrah (Centennial, 16:43), Jonathan Pattie (Centennial, 17:02), Adam Namyst (Centennial, 17:10), Vaughn Ruska (Osseo, 17:18)

The Skinny: With many of the teams having their varsity sit out due to the Roy Griak Invitational this weekend, it leaves the race more wide open. Osseo and Centennial are two teams that seem to have their varsity squad intending to race at this meet which leaves them to be the two teams gunning for the win. Centennial has the edge with their top five runners projected to finish in the top seven. They have a new team leader this year in Jonathan Pattie. He had a recent win at the Milaca Mega Meet which prepares him well to take run up against Mackinon Mokoro. Mokoro is competing in his first year of cross country so his potential is a bit unknown, especially since he has only run the 800m in track. Having already run a 16:28 in his third attempt at the 5000m distance, it looks like he has a promising career ahead. Thomas Marrah has had a slow start to his season compared to last year and his success is necessary for his team from Centennial to run to their potential.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Centennial (31), Osseo (56)

Top Individuals: Lex Davis (Osseo, 19:02), Gracie Stoks (Centennial, 19:02), Lauren Swanson (Centennial, 19:25), Kaitlyn Finnegan (Spring Lake Park, 20:01), Gabriella Baltes (Osseo, 20:12)

The Skinny: The same story is on the girl's side of many teams having their varsity runners sit out off this meet. That leaves the same teams as the boy's race of Centennial and Osseo fighting for the win. Centennial looks like they will have a pretty dominant win at today's race with their top five runners tightly packed and all projected to finish in the top ten. The three runners that should be up there challenging for the individual win should be Lex Davis, Gracie Stoks, and Lauren Swanson. Stoks had a rough start to her season but has seemed to be improving with each race. It will be interesting to watch if she continues to perform better with each race. How she finishes relative to her teammate, Swanson, in this race will be telling of that improvement. Swanson also had a slower start to her season than usual but has seen some recent improvements as well. Davis, however, has had a really consistent season and has had improvements compared to this time last year. It looks like Davis has the slight edge of Stoks and Swanson for the individual win. 

 (Written By Emma Benner)

TODAY'S MEETS