Stars Out To Shine On Today's Big Day Of Racing

PREVIEW

La Crescent "Crazy Buffalo" Invitational

Boys Varsity 4800m, Girls Varsity  4K

Location: Pine Creek Golf Course, La Crescent, MN

Weather: Low 70s and sunny

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Rochester John Marshall (45), Luther (51), Lake City (65)

Top Individuals: David Vannucchi (Luther, 15:16), Sam Larson (Luther, 16:34), Quaid Handy (Luther, 16:36), Caleb Feda (Rochester John Marshall, 16:57)

The Skinny: The Wisconsin Division 3 2017 State Champion, David Vannucchi of Luther, will be taking on this field as a very dominant runner, coming in with a personal best that is one minute and eighteen seconds faster than the next runner.  Vannucchi won the triple crown for Wisconsin (cross country, 1600m, and 3200m) last year for Division 3. His teammate, Sam Larson, is a strong runner as well as he was the third place finisher in the 3200m at the Wisconsin State meet last season. It will be tough for another individual to finish ahead of Luther's top three runners of Vannucchi, Larson, and Quaid Handy who come in with the strongest personal bests and previous race finishes. Rochester John Marshall may be lacking in the 1-2-3 punch that Luther has but they have a stronger group of five runners followed closely by their sixth and seventh runners that prove a depth that will put up a tough challenge.  However, Luther will not be far behind and if their fourth and fifth runners close the gap on the RJM runners they could easily put the title into their hands.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projections: Cotter (34), Lake City (56), Rochester John Marshall (63)

Top Individuals: Lauren Ping (Cotter, 17:07), Grace Ping (Cotter, 17:45), Morgan Arnold (Cotter, 19:21), Jacey Majerus (Lake City, 19:51), Maddy Breton (Saint Paul Academy and Summit, 19:54), Aubrey Williams (Cotter, 19:58)

The Skinny: Cotter comes into another meet ready to take the team title by storm.  The team that is lead by the Ping sisters (Grace and Lauren) is currently tied for the number one ranking in Class A. The Pings, and likely the rest of the Cotter team, will be racing this meet as a tempo effort, but they should still be able take the top two spots simply because of how much better they are than the rest of the field. Morgan Arnold has had an impressive start to her season and is ranked twelfth, meaning Cotter has three girls in the rankings at this point in the season. The other team to watch at this meet will be Lake City, currently ranked eighth in Class A. They will be lead by Jacey Majerus who won the Middle School section of this race last year, so it would be a very impressive turnaround if she pulled off the win in the Varsity race today, but that will be hard to do even with the Cotter team not giving a full race effort.

(written by Emma Benner)