Conference Tuesday - The Biggest Day Of XC Of The Year

Location: Hyland Lake Park Reserve, Bloomington

Weather: Mid-50's, mostly sunny

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Chanhassen (45), Benilde-Saint Margaret's (54), Bloomington Jefferson (87)

Top Individuals: Nicholas Scheller (Chanhassen, 15:30), Torin Christianson (Chanhassen, 16:00), Lloyd Young (Kennedy, 16:13), Colden Longley (Jefferson, 16:27), Zach Long (Chanhassen, 16:33), Aidan Luebke (BSM, 16:44), Peter Lynch (BSM, 16:51), Dylan Schaefer (Chaska, 16:52)

The Skinny: It will be a battle of team structures today as Chanhassen takes on Benilde Saint Margaret's. Chanhassen has loads of star power on their side with an uber-talented trio of Scheller, Crhsitianson, and Long, but a 1-5 spread of 2:23, while BSM puts all five scoring runners in the top 15 of the virtual meet and a 1-5 spread of 54 seconds without any true star runners. The virtual meet gives Chanhassen a slight advantage, but it is silm enough that any one outstanding (or disappointing) performance could swing it either way. The individual battle, on the other have, will probably not be much of a battle as 5th-ranked Nick Scheller has a thirty-second advantage on the rest of the field, but Lloyd Young could try to make things interesting as he is in the midst of his best season yet and already racked up some impressive wins. Torin Christianson can't be counted out either.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Saint Louis Park (38), Bloomington Jefferson (41), Chanhassen (64)

Top Individuals: Meghan Pierson (Chanhassen, 18:42), Josephine Mosby (SLP, 18:55), Megan Lee (Jefferson, 19:40), Megan Narveson (Jefferson, 19:45), Miranda Gilbertson (Chanhassen, 20:04), Kaia Myers (SLP, 20:05), Jersey Miller (SLP, 20:05)

The Skinny: Saint Louis Park jumpstarted their season when they took a commanding win in the Maroon race at Griak, and they've looked solid ever since. But their biggest rival and defending meet champion are the Jefferson Jaguars, and the virtual meet pits the two teams in an extremely close battle for the win. And with just 8 teams rather than the huge field at Griak, having a low stick like Josie Mosby won't give them nearly as much of an advantage. But even Mostby isn't sure of a victory as the runner with the top time coming in is actually Chanhassen's Meghan Pierson, who's been steadily improving as the season has gone on and competed very well against some tough runners.

(written by Mark Rice)