PREVIEW
Ortonville Invite
Location: Ortonville Golf Course, Ortonville
Weather: Low 60s and raining
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projection: Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (38), Milbank (57), Lakeview (70), Ortonville (117)
Top Individuals: Noah Stewart (MACA, 16:25), Nick Batchelor (Milbank, 17:15), Rory Schackelford (YME, 17:29), Selim Gilon (Lakeview, 17:44), Nathan Neu (Ortonville, 17:48), Benjamin Hernandez (MACA, 17:55), Solomon Johnson (MACA, 17:58)
The Skinny: Noah Stewart is having the season of his life and looks to continue his incredible improvements. As a runner that has never qualified for the state meet, it is an impressive feat to currently be ranked twelfth in Class A. Most recently, Stewart was the runner up at the Milaca Mega Meet behind Harris Anderson (ranked second in Class A) and ahead of some athletes that are ranked ahead of him. The race for second will be pretty close between Nick Batchelor and Rory Schackelford. Morris looks to lead the team race with their top six runners projected to finish in the top 14. Their Section 6A competitors will be following behind them, both teams looking to climb the ranks in their section this year.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projection: Milbank (35), Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta (45), Ortonville (74)
Top Individuals: Maddie Carrington (Morris, 20:13), Meredith Carrington (Morris, 20:30), Clarissa Vanderwal (Ortonville, 20:36), Hannah Vanderwal (Ortonville, 21:03), Maurina Street (Milbank, 21:08)
The Skinny: While the top Minnesota team in this meet is Morris, and while the Carrington sisters come in with the top two times in the field, it is South Dakota's Milbank High School that looks like they will come out on top as they put all five scorers in the top nine in the virtual meet. Morris, who was seventh last year in their Section 6A race and will be looking to reach closer to those top spots this year, come up close behind them in second, and could vie for the win by just swapping a few places with Milbank runners. They have a very young team so with continued improvement they could be one of the teams vying for state championship berth. Last year, Meredith Carrington was their only runner that represented them at the state championships after her fourth place finish at the section meet. Her older sister, Maddie Carrington has been finishing well ahead of her this year which will be good for a solid one-two finish at today's race. Joining those two will be Clarissa Vanderwal of Ortonville who was also a state championship qualifier last year out of Section 3A. Vanderwal finished close behind Maddie at the New London-Spicer Crow Invitational but ahead of Meredith Carrington so it will be another close race today.