Girls Sprints
T'nia Riley is the owner of four state championships, the 6th-best 100m time, and 4th-best 200m time in state history. But incredibly, despite already being one of Minnesota's sprinting legends, Riley has yet to make her Hamline Elite debut. Thankfully, that is going to be remedied this year as Riley enters as far and away the top seed and strong favorite in both events, in addition to anchoring Minneapolis North's 4x100 relay. But as good as Riley is, there are more than a few sprinters who cannot be overlooked.
In particular, teammates Shaliciah Jones and J'ianna Cager are worth highlighting, owning a career-best 100m mark of 12.19 and 11.99 respectively, and also being two of the top three returning athletes from last year in the meet's shortest event. And sandwiched right between them is Kendra Kelley, the third-place finisher in the 100m in 2017, as well as the runner-up in the 200m. Jailyn Robinson and Faith Robinson (not related) are the only other returning athletes from the 100 meter finals while Lauren Hansen and Kinga Mozes return from the 200 meter competition. But it may all just be academic when it comes to who's going to win - barring unforeseeable circumstances, there is no reason for T'nia Riley not to dominate the 100m and 200m the same way Anna Keefer did last year.
The 400 meter competition, on the other hand, is a whole different animal. Again totally dominated by times run in 2017, there not only isn't a clear favorite among the nine competetors, but only two runners who ran the 400 last year (Robbie Grace and Claire Howell) return. Of course, Grace has been one of Minnesota's biggest names in the long sprints for years, owning a career-best mark in the event of 56.23 and finishing in the top three in Class A three times so far as only a junior. But Grace has not improved her 400 meter mark since 2015 when she was an 8th-grader, and recently has been seeing more and more success in the long jump and 200 rather than her most frequently-run event. Perhaps this could be the year, though, that Grace does take it to the next level.
Or maybe it is the year for the sophomores Howell or Sydney Jackson to take the reigns of 400 meter running in Minnesota? A late bloomer in 2017, Jackson dropped nearly two seconds off her personal best last year for Sections and State, and is an excellent 800 meter runner too. Howell too had an excellent performance at State last year. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the girls' 400m final is that the field contains just one senior in Alison Rosengren, who will be making her Hamline debut. With 8 underclassmen in the race, we could possibly gain a big insight into future years of the event too.
Both hurdle events will have big favorites headlining them, with defending State Champion Natalie Windels in the 300H and defending State Champion Shae Buchman in the 100H. Interestingly, however, neither athlete is electing to double in the hurdles, so Windel's biggest competition will come in the form of Erika Townley, Jaylen Struck-Schmitz, and Chloe Foster, while Buchman will try to avoid being upset by Kaye Paschka, Myiah Scott, and Evelyn Adams. But with both stars being so well-established in their events it would be hard to see either of them upset. In fact, beyond those two, the biggest thing to notice in the hurdles is just how young they are, as 13 of the 17 combined runners are underclassmen.
As with the boys, this year's weather combined with last year's seeds will make relays are very hard to predict. We do know North St. Paul will return their defending State and Hamline champion 4x100 with three of the four ladies returning, and that makes them about as close to a sure thing as we can guess (considering that their 2017 relay crew may have been the best Minnesota has ever seen assembled). But surprisingly, they are not running the 4x200, where St. Michael-Albertville owns the top seed. Of course, they no longer have Anna Keefer to anchor, so the door is wide open for a team like Minnetonka (with Faith Robinson and Olivia O'Brien) or Cretin-Derham Hall (anchored by Jackson) to step up. And also anchored by Jackson is the CDH 4x400 relay team that will be attempting to defend their Hamline championship from 2017.
Boys Distance
Four teams in the 4x800 have seeds under 8:00, but it seems as though most seeds came from 2017. Neither Stillwater or Wayzata are stacking their roster, setting the stage for this event to have more teams in contention to win. At State last season, the Trojans and Ponies were joined by Bemidji in an epic-three way kick to the finish.
Mitchell Tolander and
Tommy Leisen return from Wayzata's squad, as does
Isaac Krahn, who anchored for the Ponies. Between these two teams, the race will be decided by the performance of the new members from those powerhouse teams a year ago. But a couple of other teams could turn this race into a dogfight. Mineapolis Washburn quietly looks to have a fairly stacked roster, and Eden Prairie is also seeded at sub-8. And with every team in the field seeded under 8:10, surely a surprise team could emerge.
With Wayzata deciding to not stack their 4x800 squad, the 800m becomes the Trojan's race to lose. Patrick Leonard and Frank Fetrow will be racing this event on fresh legs, and are seeded 1st and 4th. They both broke 2:00 indoors a month ago, and appear ready to get the season rolling. However, the most impressive performance so far belongs to Cooper Jackson of Lakeville South, who blazed a 1:57.04 at a dual meet, getting sandwiched by Khalid Hussein and Anders Sonnesyn. He probably stands the best chance of knocking off the Wayzata duo, though John Starkey of Chaska's 1:55.86 PR stands out on paper. Stillwater also has a duo entered, made up of Will Seck and Noah Johnson. The Ponies always seem to be in contention, so expect them to be right in the mix of things, along with conference rival Lukas Hessini of Mounds View. Hessini came out of nowhere to drop a 1:57.75 last Friday (on a near-even split), and could be a dark horse to win this title, though he will be doubling back from the 4x800.
Many of the top talents are electing to race the 3200m, making the 1600m wide open. Without a clear favorite, the boys 1600m will likely be one of the most crowded fields of the meet. All of the 17 entrants are seeded in the 4:20s, though it will take an effort under that barrier to win on Friday.
Addison Stansbury of Stillwater looks to have made strides during the winter, running 4:23.16 indoors at the MSU Showcase. He's also taken down (and fairly convincingly too)
Acer Iverson already this spring. Anders Sonnesyn of Wayzata could also make an argument for the top competitor on paper, as he has essentially finished on the shoulder of Khalid Hussein in every race yet, already clocking 4:23 this spring. The freshman phenom
Geno Uhrbom of Greenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin made waves last season when he broke 4:30 while still in middle school. After a breakout cross country season, he will be one to watch.
Nicholas Scheller of Chanhassen,
Jebediah Merkle of Southwest Christian, and
Abati Dedefo of St. Louis Park are a few other names that could be sleepers. But without many opportunities to race yet this spring, it is still unclear what shape the competitors are in, and which of these athletes will emerge from the fray.
With no athletes doubling in the two longest events, nearly the entire boys 3200m field will be running on fresh legs. It should come as no surprise that NXN All-American
Khalid Hussein of Wayzata enters as the favorite. With the best PR by a significant margin, he should be expected to win relatively comfortably. However, this will be Hussein's first 3200m of the season (he has only raced the 800m and 1600m), so it will be interesting to see how strong his endurance currently is. Could we potentially see a sub-9 attempt reminiscent of his former teammate Jaret Carpenter's epic 2016 run?
In a field that is so congested with talent, the 3200m often favors the best finishers. At last year's meet,
Matt Wilkinson unleashed one of the most impressive kicks in recent memory, closing in 61 and nearly nipping
Seth Eliason at the line. Hussein could face stiff competition from Mounds Park Academy's
Declan Dahlberg, the 2015 Class A XC State champion, who closed in 60 flat last lap at the 2017 State meet. Acer Iverson of Roseville is the top returner from State, and is well known for his closing ability in the last 100m. The kicks of Andover's
Tom Breuckman and Rosemount's
Luke Labatte should also be feared if they're within striking distance of the lead on the bell lap. And
Joseph Minor of Minneapolis Washburn dropped a 9:31.40 indoors at the MSU Showcase, so he might stand the best chance of unseating Hussein.