Great Meets In Perham And Owatonna Highligh Another Big Day

PREVIEW

Litchfield Invite

Location: Litchfield Golf Course, Litchfield

Weather: 50 and cloudy

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: Hutchinson (40), Waconia (85)

Top Individuals: Samuel Ringger (Sauk Rapids-Rice, 16:17), Mitchell Grand (Hutchinson, 16:24), Ben Becker (Hutchinson, 16:40), Michael Miller (Maple Lake, 16:50), Evan Lee (Lester Prairie, 16:51)

The Skinny: The defending champion of this meet, Samuel Ringger, is back in the field again this year. This course is where his current personal best was set and with the current weather predictions it looks like it could be another fast race. Last season, he continued on to finish 30th in the state proving that this win was no fault. Ringger will probably not be able to repeat his 31 second win that he had last year with better competition this year. Mitchell Grand was fifth here last year but has had huge improvements this season that have been proven with his 21 second personal best. Ringger and Grand could pull each other to sub 16 performances while challenging each other for the win. Grand will lead his Hutchinson teammates as they gun for the team title. They are projected to finish well ahead of Waconia. Hutchinson has a top four that make them hard to beat but they will need their fifth runner to close the gap to really pull off a big win.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projections: Waconia (66), Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (98)

Top Individuals: Kaleesa Houston (Waconia, 19:05), Erika Swanson (Northwest Homeschool Coop, 19:31), Gracie Mallak (Howard Lake Waverly Winstead, 19:50), Molly Liston (Blake, 19:50), Riviera Wock (Orono, 20:00)

The Skinny: Two notable teams are in this field with Waconia coming in with a honorable mention ranking in Class AA and Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead holding a fifth place ranking in Class A.  In their most recent matchup at the Waconia Run of the Lakes Invite, Waconia defeated HLWW by 15 points for the win. The rematch will be interesting to watch as it will most likely be just as close at this race. Kaleesa Houstin is the top runner in this field coming in with a season best of 19:05 and some solid performances recently. She was the 3rd place finisher at the Milaca Mega Meet. She has defeated much of the field already this season but has yet to compete against Erika Swanson. Swanson has been a frontrunner this year but has not competed at as high of levels as Houston has. It will be interesting to see how the two match up against each other in today's race.