Conference Tuesday - The Biggest Day Of XC Of The Year

Location: Collinwood Park, Cokato

Weather: Partly Cloudy with a high of 49, Breezy

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: Paynesville Area (66), Holdingford (72), Maple Lake (99)

Top Individuals: Michael Miller (Maple Lake, 16:50), Christopher Borash (Royalton High, 16:57), Preston Carlson (Paynesville Area High 17:14), Jake Andres (Pierz High, 17:15), Carter Grove (Osakis, 17:17)

The Skinny: Paynesville Area High School looks to be the favorite at the Central Minnesota Conference Meet on Tuesday, but not by many points. Holdingford will give them a run for their money with a projection of 72 points. Miller (Maple Lake) will be the top runner out on the course with a PR of 16:50 so far this season. Borash (Royalton) looks to also run a good race against Miller with a PR of 16:57. Carlson (Paynesville) will likely finish in the top 3 with a personal best of 17:14 this season, and a 5thplace finish recently at the BOLD Invite with a time of 17:37. Although it doesn't look like Paynesville or Holdingford will have a large number of runners finishing in the top ten, both schools will likely have a larger number of runners crossing the finish line early in the race, so while it remains to be seen who will come out on top, one thing is for sure, it will be a close race.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projections: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted (20), Maple Lake (56), Eden Valley-Watkins/Kimball (75).

Top Individuals: Sophie Pribyl (Maple Lake, 19:33), Erin Brabec (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, 19:42), Katelyn Routhier (HLWW, 19:49), Gracie Mallak (HLWW, 19:50), Gwen Helgeson (HLWW, 19:52)

The Skinny: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted looks to be the clear winner on Tuesday with a projection of 20 points. six HLWW runners are likely to finish in the top ten, giving them a comfortable lead in the projected team scores, however the top runner for the girls appears to be Sophie Pribyl (Maple Lake), who recently ran a PR of 19:33 at the Litchfield Invite. Brabec (HLWW), will give Pribyl a good race once again as she also ran at the Litchfield Invite with a time of 19:42. Another great runner at the Central Minnesota Conference Meet will be Katelyn Routhier (HLWW) who also had a PR with a time of 19:49 at Litchfield.

(written by Austin Mielke)