Meet Previews: Week Two Heats Up on Thursday

Loyola Cleveland Invitational

Location: Loyola HS, Mankato

Weather: sunny, mid 70's

BOYS

Virtual Meet Projections: Mankato Loyola (27), LeSueur-Henderson (43), Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (64)

Individuals to Watch: Mitch Johnstone (Mankato Loyola, 16:19.0), Jerrett Peterson (Mankato Loyola, 16:32.7), Brett Omtvedt (Mankato Loyola, 17:03.7), Tyler Erickson (Mankato Loyola, 17:45.6)

The Skinny: Four boys among the returners in these meet have a PR under 18 minutes and all four run for Mankato Loyola, making them the clear favorite at their home invite on Thursday. Loyola will be led by a quartet that could finish 1-4 overall in the race, spearheaded by Mitch Johnstone who is among the top returners in class A this fall after finishing 17th at state last fall.

GIRLS

Virtual Meet Projections: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown (33), LeSueur-Henderson (54), Mankato Loyola (60)

Individuals to Watch: Grace Feder (Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, 19:21.5), Addison Peed (Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, 20:04.5), Lauran Dimler (Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, 20:06.6), Ellie Nygren (Mankato Loyola, 20:31.6)

The Skinny: Waterville-Elysian-Morristown looks to be the best team in our projections with the potential to put four in the top ten and all scorers in the top 15. The fastest returner is Grace Feder of Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop and her PR of 19:21 is 40 seconds better than the nearest competitor but we do not yet know about the new teammates she will have that will potentially fill out their team score. Seven athletes have PR's under 21 minutes so the race up front should be a good one in this early season litmus test for a group of young teams.