Conference Tuesday - The Biggest Day Of XC Of The Year

PREVIEW

Weather: Sunny, mid-50's

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Belle Plaine (56), Tri-City United (72), Jordan (74), LeSueur-Henderson (75)

Top Individuals: Lane Schwarz (LSH, 16:28), Drew Hastings (Belle Plaine, 16:29), Hugo Ruiz (TCU, 16:37), Travis Andrews (Sibley East, 17:13), Jorge Hernandez (LSH, 17:20)

The Skinny: Lane Schwarz, Drew Hastings, and Hugo Ruiz are no strangers to each other, as each one has faced the others multiple times this year. However, each time they have faced one another, it was the tenth-ranked Hastings who came out on top, though the ninth-ranked Ruiz has been on his heels every time. Expect the same three-way battle to play out again today, although an ever-watchful eye needs to kept for Jordan's All-State runner Symon Kesier - though he hasen't had the best season this year, he's been too good in the past to count out completely. On the team side, Belle Plaine appears to hold a slight advantage, but with all of the top four teams projected to be within 19 points of one another, it's difficult to say who will really come out ahead. Further complicating matters is that when season average 5Ks are used for the virtual meet, it is actually the defending champions from Jordan who moves into a strong lead, so it is safe to say the race is up for grabs for whoever has the best day today.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Belle Plaine (27), Jordan (61), LeSueur-Henderson (75)

Top Individuals: Mckenna Herrmann (Belle Plaine, 19:38), Victoria Flores (LSH, 19:48), Basia Babcock (Jordan, 20:00), Lizzy Schmidt (Belle Plaine, 20:10), Kendra Krueger (Jordan, 20:22)

The Skinny: The sixth-ranked team from Belle Plaine is the strong favorite to defend their conference championship, as all seven of their scoring runners own one of the eleven fastest season bests in the field. They also return the defending conference champion with Malina Koepp, but she's actually been BP's 4th or 5th runner for most of the season. Instead, the individual favorite in the conference is Mckenna Hermann, the rinner of three races this year and one of only two runners to break 20 minutes this year. LSH's Victoria Flores is the other runner, but she has not finished higher than sixth in a race since August and has finished well behind Hermann twice, so it may be difficult for her to keep up with Hermann. Basia Babcock and 400m star Lizzy Schmidt could be a factor in the individual battle too

(written by Mark Rice)