Huge Day Of Racing Consists Of Twenty Meets

PREVIEW

Location: Birchwood Golf Course, Pelican Rapids

Weather: 40s, rainy

Top Individuals: Brandon O'Hara (Perham, 15:52) Clayton Anderson (Perham, 16:10), Jacob Bright (West Central Area, 16:15), Zach Haire (Breckenridge, 16:15), Jacob Mccleary (Perham, 16:31)

The Skinny: Like on the girls' side, Perham, Class A's number one ranked team, should take a commanding win here over rival and 2nd-ranked West Central Area, a match-up we should see play out again several times over the rest of the season. Perham should also take the individual title, as frontrunner Brandon O'Hara is the only boy who has run under 16 minutes this season in the field. More interesting should be the race for second place, as Perham's Anderson, West Central Area's Jacob Bright, and Breckenridge's Haire all come in with similar times. This matchup will also be very interesting to watch, as O'Hara is the fourth ranked runner in Class A, while Zach Haire is ranked 12th. Perennial performer Jacob Bright as well as O'Hara's teammate Clayton Anderson should be in the mix to take over a spot on the individual rankings, depending on what happens in this race.

Top Individuals: Liz Birkeland (Perham, 19:14), Emily Vanwatermulen (Perham, 19:29), Caitlin Covington (Perham, 19:38), Abby Syverson (Pelican Rapids, 19:55), Lexi Bright (West Central Area, 19:56)

The Skinny: With seven girls under 20 minutes in this Conference meet, the Heart of Lakes Conference is one of Class A's strongest. The prevalence of some of this top talent is thanks is no small part to perennial Class A powerhouse and current 2nd-ranked team, Perham. Their 1, 2, 3 punch of eighth-grader Liz Birkeland, sophomore Emily Vanwatermulen, and senior Caitlin Covington will be formidable in this meet, as the trio is projected to help their squad to first place by a huge margin in this meet. Expect to see the Perham girls really throw down here, as the Conference meet ushers in the start of championship season. Perham will look to prove that they can cruise through their Conference meet going into Sections, in the hopes they can build up the confidence to challenge first-ranked Cotter for the State title. Pelican Rapids is projected to get second, also by a comfortable margin, while West Central Area will have a closer fight but should take third over Lake Park-Audubon.

(written by Maddy Lawler)