PREVIEW
MSHSL Section 5AA Championships
Location: Anoka High School
Weather: Low 50's, 50% chance of rain
BOYS
Season Best Projection: Mounds View (19), Saint Michael Albertville (101), Maple Grove (113), Rogers (123)
Season Average Projection: Mounds View (17), Saint Michael Albertville (83), Champlin Park (145), Osseo (158), Maple Grove (161)*
Top Individuals: Austin Streit (Mounds View, 15:36), Lukas Hessini (Mounds View, 15:47), Finn Sokolowski (Mounds View, 15:51), Carter Knaus (Saint Michael Albertville, 16:16), Nicholas Jacobson (Blaine, 16:18), Will Sacay (Mounds View (16:21), Alec Nelson (Mounds View, 16:23), Patrick Mclean (Maple Grove, 16:26), Mackinon Mokoro (Osseo, 16:28), Ethan Anderson (Rogers, 16:29)
The Skinny: Coming in sitting third in the state and well ahead of the rest of this field is the team from Mounds View. They are projected to be near a perfect score in both the season best time and season average time projections. That would be a big performance that would set them up well going into the state meet. Their top three runners of Austin Streit, Lukas Hessini, and Finn Sokolowski have the top three season best times in this field. None of them are in the top twelve rankings in Class AA but with the season that Streit has had, it would not be surprising if he found himself in one of those spots come the state meet. His most notable performances this season were a third place finish at the Milaca Mega Meet and a runner-up finish last week at the Suburban East Conference Championships. Streit was second here last year and went on to finish 14th at the state meet so it would not be surprising if he closed off his season with a win at this meet and a big finish at the state meet again this year. Both Hessini and Sokolowski ran personal bests at the SEC meet not too far off of Streit where they finished third and fourth, respectively. These three front runners are the main reason that Mounds View has such a successful team this year.
The next individual, Carter Knaus, comes from STMA and will be running hard to help his team grab the second state qualifying spot. He has also had a great season so far this year and has proven to be able to run well at big meets with his 20th place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational. On top of that, he has three wins this season, one of which being from the big Swain Invitational. He was 27th at last year's state meet, knocking on the door of the All-State (top 25) accolade. Another team that could challenge STMA is Maple Grove. Their top three runners of CJ Young, Patrick Mclean, and Charlie Caven have all run 16:33 or better and should be able to get individual qualifications if their team does not advance. However, Maple Grov'e fifth runner is nearly a minute back of their fourth, and STMA defeated Maple Grove by over 100 points at Griak so it looks like it should be STMA that joins Mounds View at the State Meet.
GIRLS
Season Best Projection: Saint Michael Albertville (21), Mounds View (86), Maple Grove (129)
Season Average Projection: Saint Michael Albertville (18), Mounds View (84), Maple Grove (129)
Top Individuals: Ali Weimer (Saint Michael Albertville, 18:19), Katie Sigerud (Saint Michael Albertville, 18:41), Morgan Dahl (Mounds View, 18:52), Mia Salas (Saint Michael Albertville, 18:56), Lindsey Young (Maple Grove, 19:11), Jessica Immer (Saint Michael Albertville, 19:14), Emilie Meyer (Totino Grace, 19:17), Anna Belair (Saint Michael Albertville, 19:19), Elizabeth VanLoon (Irondale, 19:20), Annalise Davis (Saint Michael Albertville, 19:28)
The Skinny: Saint Michael Albertville is the standout team in the field with their current ranking of second in the state. They have a really strong group of seven that makes them hard to beat because of the depth of their runners past their fifth scoring runner. STMA is coming off of a perfect score (15) at the Mississippi 8 Conference Championships where all seven of their runners finished in the top eleven spots. They are pretty much a lock for the top team spot. Their top runner of Ali Weimer also seems like a lock for the top individual spot. She is currently ranked sixth in state and has had some really good races this season. She was ninth at state last year but has finished a lot higher at each race this year compared to last year. That was especially the case at Griak where she was 12th this year compared to her 24th place finish last year. Weimer has been followed closely by her two teammates Katie Sigerud and Mia Salas who have been having impressive season as well. It will be interesting to see if anyone can separate those three at this race.
Mounds View and Maple Grove are the two teams that will be fighting for the second state qualifying spot. They only raced against each other once this season at the Milaca Mega Meet where Mounds View finished ahead of Maple Grove. They only bested them by 16 points which in a meet that big is not that large of a margin. In a smaller meet like sections it will be a much closer battle. Maple Grove is lead by Lindsey Young who finished well ahead of Mounds View's top runner of Morgan Dahl. Dahl seems to always get much better as the season progresses each year so having her finish higher up will benefit Mounds View a lot.
(written by Emma Benner)