Location: Pincushion Mountain, Grand Marais
Weather: 60's, partly cloudy
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: North Shore (Cook County/Two Harbors) (49), Duluth East (61), Proctor (80)
Individuals to Watch: Isaac Swanson (North Shore, 16:35), Noah Smith (North Shore, 16:53), Brenden Seipke (North Shore, 16:55), Evan Leonidas (Duluth East, 17:12), John Werner (Proctor, 17:17), Noah Foster (Cromwell-Wright, 17:25)
The Skinny: With two consecutive State appearances under their belts, the North Shore Co-op will try to open their season with a win on their challenging home course, led by three runners who ran sub-17 a year ago. However, with a nearly-two-minute gap between the #3 and #4 runners, the window may be open for Duluth East (who had a much tighter 93-second spread in their own home opener last week) to steal a win. However, the individual is very likely to be one of the trio of North Shore's top athletes, led by Isaac Swanson who had an outstanding track season this spring.
The Skinny: Like the boys, the girls of North Shore hope to ride a projected sweep of the top three places to a win in their home opener, and they are further strengthened by a much-tighter 76-second spread. Their experienced core of runners already have two team appearances at State on their resume, and they look primed to try to achieve a third. The battle behind North Shore, however, projects to be very close between Duluth East and Moose Lake/Willow River, though not nearly as close as the individual battle. The top six runners have PRs all within 16 seconds of each other, so it is truly anyone's race at the front.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: North Shore (Cook County/Two Harbors) (34), Duluth East (62.5), Moose Lake/Willow River (65)
Individuals to Watch: Cedar Gordon (North Shore, 20:20), Autumn Smith (North Shore, 20:25), Lamar Gordon (North Shore, 20:26), Gillian Skar (Duluth East, 20:30), Jillian Sajdak (South Ridge, 20:31), Coriella Sheetz (MLWR, 20:34)