Over A Dozen Meets Make Up Massive Day Of Racing

Redwood Valley Invite

Location: Redwood Falls Golf Course, Redwood Falls

Weather: 61, cloudy, pleasant

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: Marshall (20), Redwood Valley (38)

Top Individuals: Zach Matzner (Marhsall, 16:22), Quentin Blomme (Marshall, 16:59), Jayson Peyerl (Redwood Valley, 17:14), Tsukasa Yano (Marshall, 17:31)

The Skinny: In this fairly small meet, Marshall is the lone Class AA school, and should be able to come away with a solid team win. That said, Redwood Valley is no slouch, and in fact own six of the 13 fastest PRs in the field (Marshall owns the other seven). A few switches in key places could conceivably turn the meet towards Redwood Valley's favor. Meanwhile, the individual competition looks to be pretty firmly in the grasp of Zach Matzner, who is having easily the best season of any athlete in the field.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Redwood Valley (44), Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (57)

Top Individuals: Grace Feder (GFW, 19:47), Catherine Buffie (Redwood Valley, 19:52), Lauren Karnitz (Redwood Valley, 20:30), Abby Nelson (Minnesota Valley Lutheran, 20:38)

The Skinny: With Marshall's girls team traveling to Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational Gold Race, the meet opens up for Redwood Valley to take over. That said, it could be a close battle with GFW on the team side, with GFW holding three of the ten fastest times in the field just like Redwood Valley. In fact, both these teams hard structured fairly similarly, and the only real difference is that, other than at the very top, RV's second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth runners are all just a little bit better than GFW's. A few switches in key places, like in the boys race, could turn the tide of the meet. In the meantime, the one spot where GFW does hold the advantage with with State-Qualifying miler Grace Feder, who is expected to take the win in the midst of her breakout XC season while coming off the first tim in her career she has bested 20 minutes.

(written by Mark Rice)