Location: Ney Center, Henderson
Weather: Upper 50's, cloudy
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Belle Plaine (34), Tri-City United (45), LeSueur-Henderson (65)
Top Individuals: Drew Hastings (BP, 16:30), Hugo Ruiz (TCU, 16:37), Lane Schwarz (LSH, 16:41), Ben Hunsader (BP, 17:32), Hunter Rutt (TCU, 17:38)
The Skinny: This Minnesota River Conference matchup will feature a few individual heavyweights. It is not the first time Drew Hastings, Hugo Ruiz, and Lane Schwarz have faced each other this season, and it certainly won't be the last. In both previous times these three runners raced in the same race, the order was Hastings-Ruiz-Schwarz, but it has been close each time. It wouldn't be hard to imagine the order being different this time. The team battle is in a very similar situation, with Belle Plaine beating out TCU and LSH in both those meets, and they are projected to do the same here. It is worth mentioning, however, that Belle Plaine may hold out their varsity team to run instead in the Fairmont I-90 Invitational on Thursday (they did not run their varsity at this meet last year either). In that case, the balance of power shifts to TCU.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: Belle Plaine (19), LeSueur-Henderson (48)
Top Individuals: Mckenna Herrmann (BP, 20:08), Victoria Flores (LSH, 20:34), Lizzy Schmidt (BP, 20:35), Malina Koepp (BP, 20:56), Cassie Stolt (BP, 21:04)
The Skinny: 8th-ranked Belle Plaine will almost certainly come away with the win in this meet (assuming they run). Ten of the top 13 runners in the meet are all Tigers, while the other three are from LSH (the team that will likely take the win if BP elects not to run their varsity). Makenna Herrmann coming in with the best time of the season, and is likely the favorite to win, but it is actually Lizzy Schmidt and Victoria Flores who own the best all-time bests of under 20 minutes. In fact, Flores was the winner of this meet last year and ran her PR of 19:46 here. A second win at her home meet would also be her second win of the season.
(written by Mark Rice)