Huge Day Of Racing Consists Of Twenty Meets

PREVIEW

Location: Falls Country Club, International Falls

Weather: 41 degrees, rain possible (but probably not until later in the night)

BOYS

Virtual Meet ProjectionGreenway/Nashwauk-Keewatin (30), International Falls (63), Grand Rapids (66)

Top Individuals: Geno Uhrbom (GNK, 15:48), Taran Howard (Deer River/Northland, 17:00), Spencer Engel (GNK, 17:06), Garrett Beckrich (Grand Rapids, 17:07), Jake Erickson (International Falls, 17:10)

The Skinny: The headline of this invite is of course sophomore phenom and Class A 1st-ranked runner Geno Uhrbom of GNK, who will look to defend his title here from last year. In 2017, he won by a commanding 38 seconds, and this year he appears to have the capability to dominate by an even greater amount. On the team side, the virtual meet projection shows GNK dominating by a similarly impressive margin over International Falls and Grand Rapids. The two teams are only separated by three points, which means the race for second will be close. In addition, GNK and International Falls will be back together to duke it out for Sections soon enough, so a strong performance here from either team could signal what is to come.

Top Individuals: Ava Hill (Mesabi East, 18:44), Ryan Ford (International Falls, 19:46), Bella Thomas (Mesabi East, 19:55), Lydia Skelton (Mesabi East, 20:03), Avery Sivonen (International Falls, 20:31)

The Skinny: Mesabi East junior Ava Hill has been a standout for years now, and her team Mesabi East is on the rise. After running at Swain, it is unknown whether the Mesabi East girls will run at full strength or full effort, especially since Hill comes in with the fastest time by over a minute. Last year, she ran this race as a workout. Without her, all eyes would turn to Ryan Ford of International Falls, as well as Hill's teammates Bella Thomas and Lydia Skelton. A dominating win for the Mesabi East girls could signal something big heading into Sections, which they are at this point projected to win pretty handily. Still, as the projected team scores stand for this race, everything looks pretty close, especially for second and third place, and a big race for Greenway, International Falls, or Hibbing could be a performance the girls could ride all the way to state.

(written by Maddy Lawler)