Conference Tuesday - The Biggest Day Of XC Of The Year

Location: Battle Creek Park, Maplewood

Weather: Low 50's degrees, partly cloudy

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projection: Academy of Holy Angels (49), DeLaSalle (49), Saint Agnes (97)

Top Individuals: Jack Peschel (Academy of Holy Angels, 17:27), Vaughn Wolf (Saint Agnes, 17:45), Alex Wenner (DeLaSalle, 17:50), Michael Yocum (Fridley, 18:06), Connor Mccoy (Fridley, 18:06)

The Skinny: Holy Angels will have a tough time defending their conference championship despite having the best runner in the conference on their side in Jack Peschel. DeLaSalle only took fourth last year, but they could team the championship this year thanks to putting all five of their top runners in the top 16 (in fact, they'll probably own the tiebreaker in the event of a tie too). Alex Wenner is one of just three runners under 18 minutes in the conference this year, and could challenge Peschel and projected runner-up Vaughn Wolf for the individual championship. However, it really would be a surprise if Peschel does not win, as he's definitely been the most consistent runner in the conference.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projection: Visitation (20), Saint Anthony Village (37)

Top Individuals: Margaret Dalseth (Visitation, 18:43), Sadie Grunau (Visitation, 19:33), Nina Reamer (Visitation, 19:36), Lauren Kern (Visitation, 20:29), Samantha Solboe (SAV, 20:59)

The Skinny: Visitation is the returning conference champion, and should not have much trouble defending that championship. They own the top four runners in the field, and it's not all that close. Their top runner Margret Dalseth is also in the midst of her best season and ran her lifetime best earlier this year at the Milaca Mega Meet. Their fifth runner sits bout two minutes behind her top four teammates, however, so it's unlikely for Visitation to perfect score like they did last year. Behind them, and making the meet score surprisingly close, is the team from Saint Anthony Village. Those 37 points are earned by placing their top four runners from places 5-through-8 of the virtual meet, making the top 8 runners all from either Visitation or SAV. The fastest runner not from either of those two teams is DeLaSalle's senior Lily Saddoris, who's best time this year is 22:17.

(written by Mark Rice)