Austin Invitational (8/27)
Location: Meadow Greens Golf Course, Austin
Weather: 70, sunny
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Rochester Century (64), Owatonna (74.5), Rochester John Marshall (81.5)
Individuals to Watch: Metijwok Omod (RJM, 15:58), Sonny Ortega-Roseli (Albert Lea, 16:33), Preston Meier (Owatonna, 16:36), Mitchell Hanson (Faribault, 16:47)
The Skinny: Some of the top Big 9 schools open their season in Austin to try to get some races under their collective belts. The meet projects to be a good team battle, as five teams return a top five that average under 17:30. Rochester Century holds a slight edge in the virtual meet thanks to their projected spread of just 30 seconds, but Owatonna's underclassmen-filled top seven can make up some group real quick if their back-end runners can work together and pass some runners near the end. Rochester John Marshall, meanwhile, will be in the competition thanks to two solid frontrunners in seniors Meti Omod (in his first XC race in an RJM uniform) and Dakota Dowd, but they'll need to close the gap between Dowd and the 3-6 pack behind him in order to make up the ground. Omod, meanwhile, will be a solid favorite as one of the state's best returning runners from last season, but the race behind him will be a great one, and will likely come down to the runner who has put in the best work over the summer.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: Faribault High School (54), Rochester Mayo High School (66), Owatonna (86)
Individuals to Watch: Hannah LaMaster (Mayo, 18:33), Carsyn Brady (Owatonna, 19:06), Lauryn Renier (Lourdes, 19:06), Ruby Gernandt (Faribault, 19:08), Madelyn Skjeveland (Faribault, 19:15)
The Skinny: Last year's Big 9 Conference Championships on the girls side were tightly contested with just 26 points separating 2nd and 8th place. Coming in 3rd in that meet was Faribault, but with the graduation of just one of their seven fastest runners last year, they may be in the driver's seat in the conference. This meet will be the first opportunity for Faribault to establish their position in the conference, while the Hannah LaMaster-led Mayo team (who finished just 5 points behind Faribault for 4th in the conference last year) hope to do the same. LaMaster comes in as a victim of near-misses so far in her career, coming in 26th at last year's State Meet (one spot out of being All-State), and missing State in the 1600m and 800m in track despite running 5:04 and 2:20 at Sections. She'll certainly be looking to start her sophomore year out on the right note, while other runners like 8th-grader Carsyn Brady, Class A All-State runner Lauryn Renier, and Faribault's front duo of Ruby Gernandt and Madelyn Skjeveland (who beat LaMaster at last year's Big 9 Championships) will see if they can give her a serious challenge