Great Meets In Perham And Owatonna Highligh Another Big Day

PREVIEW

Sleepy Eye Invitational

Location: Sleepy Eye Golf Course, Sleepy Eye

Weather: High 40's, decent chance of rain

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (21), Norwood Young America (68), Sibley East (69)

Top Individuals: Mitch Johnstone (Loyola, 16:35), Jerrett Peterson (Loyola, 17:12), Travis Andrews (Sibley East, 17:13), Brett Omtvedt (Loyola, 17:15)

The Skinny: The eighth-ranked team from Loyola/Cleveland should take an easy team win here even as they wait for their number-five runner Tyler Erickson to return to their lineup. Six of the top ten times in this field this season have come from Loyola, so the more interesting battle could be who takes the runner-up spot, as NYA and Sibley East are separated in the virtual meet by a mere one point. The individual battle appears just as locked up for Loyola's Mitch Johnson, who is currently sitting at 9th in Class A and is the only athlete under 17 minutes this year. Interestingly, the runner with the best time outside of Loyola is Sibley East's Travis Andrew, who just ran a huge PR 55-second earlier this week at LeSueur-Henderson Meet, so the junior could potentially be in the midst of a breakout.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial/Nicollet (39), Mankato Loyola/Cleveland (82)

Top Individuals: Makenna Thurston (LCWMN, 19:01), Olivia Flack (LCWMN, 20:25), Abby Nelson (Minnesota Valley Lutheran, 20:38), Grace Moeller (LCWMN, 20:38), Ellie Nygren (Loyola, 20:42)

The Skinny: LCWMN has a commanding lead in both the team and individual battles, thanks mainly to Makenna Thurston. Thurston is the best senior in Class A and has been in the rankings the whole season, currently sitting at 9th. No one comes even close to her season best of 19:01, and the closest athletes to her are her own teammate Olivia Flack and Grace Moeller. Unfortunately, LCWMN's depth really falls off after those three runners and no one else on the team has run under 23 minutes this year, but that won't stop them from potentially scoring half the number of points as whoever the runners-up will be.