PREVIEW
Maple Lake Invitational
Location: Ney County Park, Maple Lake
Weather: Cloudy, very high humidity, high 70s
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projection: Benilde-Saint Margaret (40), Mound-Westonka (79)
Top Individuals: Charlie Reinhardt (M-W, 16:55), Alec Van Gelder (M-W, 16:56), Peter Lynch (BSM, 16:57), Michael Miller (Maple Lake, 17:00), Aidan Luebke (BSM, 17:06)
The Skinny: Last year, Buffalo's varsity runners sat out of this meet, and chances are the same will happen this year as Buffalo ran their top nine runners yesterday at St. Olaf. Without Buffalo's top runners in the mix, it looks like Charlie Reinhardt of Mound-Westonka will be the top returner in this field followed closely by teammate Alec Van Gelder. Their personal bests come from this course a year ago so if the weather turns out right, those two could be going for a quick time to start the season. Teamwise, it is Benilde-Saint Margaret's that comes away the strongest putting 5 runners in the top 22 of the virtual meet, all of whom have run 18:09 or better.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (53), Maple Lake (73), Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (87), Rockford (93)
Top Individuals: Gracie Mallak (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, 18:49), Ava Cusciotta (Rockford, 19:28), Kristine Kalthoff (Albany, 19:35), Emily Kern (Buffalo, 19:44), Alexis O Malley (Buffalo, 19:46)
The Skinny: The race for the team title will be very close for this field. Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted is currently ranked eleventh in Class A and will be up against the strong competition of Maple Lake (ranked 5th in Class A) and Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (ranked 8th). HLWW did not send a team to state like Maple Lake or EVWK meet last year, but were represented by both Gracie Mallak (26th) and Gwen Helgeson (52nd). Mallak won this meet last year by a dominating 21 seconds but after a disappointing track season where she did not advance to the state meet (she was sixth in the 1600m in 2017) it will be interesting to see where her fitness is at. As for Maple Lake, it will be a great early season test to see just how well they match up against their section rival that they beat out for a spot at State last year, and depending on how things shake out, the rankings could potentially look pretty different next week.