Courses In Maplewood And Mountain Lake To Heat Up Today

PREVIEW

Mountain Lake Paul Metcalf Invitational

Location: Mountain Lake Golf Course, Mountain Lake

Weather: Sunny, low 70s

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: Worthington (42), Martin County West (68), Luverne (86), Fairmont (96)

Top Individuals: Adam Koller (Worthington, 16:14), Dalton Desollar (Luverne, 17:05), Carson Kahler (Martin County West, 17:10), Dalton Piotter (Mountain Lake, 17:11), Christian Lietz (Worthington, 17:19)

The Skinny: Adam Koller and his team from Worthington High School are the top stories of this meet. Koller should have a secured win that will be a great start to his season. The 2017 cross country season brought him his first State Championships appearance. He made huge improvements throughout last season after finishing sixth at this race which landed him over a minute behind the winner. He ended his season cutting one minute and 34 seconds off of his personal best from the year before. It wouldn't be a surprise if he started out the season with another large jump in improvement as he is has momentum from grabbing more personal bests during the track season. Worthington was the team champion at this meet a year ago and it looks like they will repeat the title. Their fourth runner is projected to finish in front of all the other team's third runner which would protect their win.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Luverne (51), Fairmont (82), Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet (94)

Top Individuals: Morgan Gehl (Murray County Central, 18:35), Tenley Nelson (Luverne, 18:42), Makenna Thurston (LCWM/N, 18:54), Marissa Whitehead (Martin County West, 18:59)

The Skinny: The Class A girl's rankings could be rearranged today as four top ten ranked girls and two top twelve ranked teams will be matching up today. Morgan Gehl, Tenley Nelson, Makenna Thurston, and Marissa Whitehead will put on an interesting show as they are currently ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh in the state for Class A girls.  Gehl finished an outstanding fourth place at the 2017 Class A State Cross Country Championships which was the only time that she finished outside of the top three at a race during that season. She won this race in 2017 by 16 seconds, but it would be surprising if anyone won by anywhere near that margin this year. The other three were hot on Gehl's heels at the State Championships last year and finished in the next three spots (Nelson-fifth, Thurton-sixth, Whitehead-seventh). This race will be a fun preview of a good handful of the top ten runners at this season's State Championships. The team race will be just a exciting with Fairmont (fifth at state last year) and Luverne (sixth at state last year). Luverne comes into the season ranked third after not graduating any of their varsity runners. Fairmont graduated two of their top seven which bumped them down to being ranked twelfth. Luverne has such a strong top five girls, being led by Nelson, which will make it hard for them to be beat.

SEE NEXT: Tri-Metro Conference Jamboree

SEE ALSO: Charter Stars Invitational (postponed)