Huge Day Of Racing Consists Of Twenty Meets

PREVIEW

Location: Boulder Ridge Golf Course, St. Cloud

Weather: Low 40's, rain

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Sartell-Saint Stephen (34), Willmar (52), Saint Cloud Apollo (82)

Top Individuals: Cameron Stocke (Virginia, 16:18), Lieban Mohamed (St. Cloud Apollo, 16:35), Mitiku Nies (Sartell-St. Stephen, 16:41), Fuad Bashir (Willmar, 16:48), Zach Nemeth (Sartell-S. Stephen, 16:50), Mason Wendt (Willmar, 16:53), Nicholas Buiceag-Arama (Sartell-St.Stephen, 16:55)

The Skinny: Sartell-St. Stephen should be expected to take the win as a team over Willmar and a quietly strong St. Cloud Apollo team. Willmar can match the frontrunning of the Sabres, but the overall depth of Sartell-St. Stephen at the moment leans in their favor. Of course, Willmar could have a breakout race at any moment especially if Hudeife Mire (who just came back from an injury) starts hitting the form he was in last year. Cameron Stocke, the 8th grade phenom, should be the heavy favorite and will likely run much of the race solo. He's looking to break 16:00 on this fast course, so the pace could out quick. Lieban Mohamed has back to back sub 16:40 efforts, and will likely be leading the chase pack. But don't sleep on Sartell-St. Stephen's duo of Mitiku Nies and Zach Nemeth, or Willmar's duo of Mason Wendt and Fuad Bashir. Each of those pairs will look to work together to nab some of the top spots in the race.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Willmar (18), Sartell-Saint Stephen (46)

Top Individuals: Heidi Schmitz (Willmar, 18:45), Leah Hansen (Willmar, 18:57), Ingrid Buiceag-Arama (Sartell-St. Stephen, 18:59), Amel Dayib (Willmar, 19:09), Serena Monson (Willmar, 19:22), Elsie Duininck (Willmar, 19:53)

The Skinny: The Willmar girls are coming off a disappointing 4th-place finish at the Alexandria Lions Meet of Champions, where many of the top Class AA teams competed last weekend. They will hope to rebound by taking the win comfortably over Sartell-St. Stephen on the course which will host their conference meet next week. Those two teams appear to be in a tier above the rest of the field, as no other team in the virtual meet scores less than 100 points. Individually, teammates Heidi Schmitz and Leah Hansen will battle for the win. Both have made it onto the rankings at certain points this season. Ingrid Buiceag-Arama will look to prevent a Willmar sweep, and she beat all the Willmar girls at Alexandria, so she's likely the favorite. Amel Dayib and the rest of the Willmar squad should fill out most of the top ten, and should score most of the top placings. Keep an eye out for them to potentially score under 25 points.

(written by Mark Rice)