Boys Class AA Preseason Team Watch List

Last fall, St. Paul Highland Park qualified for State for the first time in roughly 40 years, ultimately finishing tenth. They will return four of the top five and five of seven from that team this fall including senior Oliver Paleen who figures to be among the state's elite individuals this fall after going 15:44 last fall and taking tenth at state. After Paleen are three other sub-17 minute times including seniors Calvin Boone (16:04) and Conor Gregg Escalante (16:07) that offer a potential 1-3 among the best in the state. Fellow senior Marcus Hansen has gone 16:57 to provide a quality fourth spot. Junior Jesse Paterson is the potential fifth man at 17:17 that gives Highland a 16:26 team average, among the top five in the state. Though they share section 4AA with Stillwater, right now the returning numbers show the Scots are ahead of the Ponies at spots 1-3 and very similar at fourth and fifth man positions. There are few teams in the state this year with three runners at the 16:00 level and Highland could have three under that number by the end of the year. Even if the top pack simply maintains their 2018 performance level, improvement from Hanson and Paterson or others outside their top five PR's could produce the same result for the Scots, elevating them among the top five in the state.