A Look Ahead At The Class AAA True Team State Championships


AAA Boys

Section I - Lakeville South - Jonathon Gilmer (HC)

Section II - Stillwater - Scott Christensen (HC)

Section III - Rosemount- Jay Hatleli (HC)

Section IV - Anoka- Pete Tremaine (HC)

Section V - Cambridge-Isanti- Kent D. Viesselman (HC)

Section VI - Mounds View - Ross Fleming (HC)

Section VII - Wayzata - Aaron Berndt (HC)

Section VIII - Saint Michael-Albertville- Curt Hahn (HC)

Wild Card - White Bear Lake - Tom Paulson (HC)

Wild Card - Hopkins- Nick Lovas (HC)

Wild Card - Prior Lake- Ken Klamm (HC)

Wild Card - Blaine - Rob Nick (HC)

The Favorites: The five-time defending champions return for an attempt at their so-called "six-peat." Wayzata will be fighting to win the title yet again with Mounds View and Hopkins nipping at their heels. Although many athletes will be doubling and tripling, it is sometimes impossible to know which athletes will be in what events. Some athletes you can expect to see showcasing their premier events to rack up big points for their team include Joe Fahnbulleh of Hopkins, Josh Sampson of Mounds View, Nick Sharma of Mounds View and the 3200m trifecta of Khalid Hussein, Andrew Brandt, and Blake Buysse of Wayzata. Joe comes in with the leading times in he 100m and 200m dash and will likely be seen in the relays. Sampson leads the fields in both hurdle events while Sharma looks to score big points also in the sprints. However, we all know how the true team format works - at the end of the day, the best overall team will take the title, and no matter how good a few individuals are, the team will make all the difference. For this reason, Wayzata looks the strongest as they are deep in nearly every event top to bottom. They should not take Mounds View lightly though, as they are looking to dethrone the trojans with their strong sprints and throws, and even a couple strong distance runners in Austin Streit, Lukas Hessini, and David Dahl.

The ChallengersOne of the big challengers that not many expected is Cambridge-Isanti High School. In the virtual projections, they score just under 25 points behind Hopkins, which if a botched handoff, fall, or number of other problems occur, they could easily find themselves atop the podium. Looks for their 4x100m Relay to core them big points as well as Jett Gaudette and Tom Holmberg. Accompanying Cambridge-Isanti includes Lakeville South, Rosemount, White Bear Lake, and Prior Lake all with strong teams. And of course, Stillwater is certainly a wild card contender on their home track.

Watch Out ForSome of the top athletes in terms of how many points they may score if they compete in their top events include Hussein and Drake Daniels of Wayzata, Fahnbulleh and King Allah of Hopkins, Jett Gaudette of Cambridge-Isanti, Jeremiah Jacobson of Lakeville South, and Addison Stansbury of Stillwater. Look for these individuals to score big points for their respective teams.