Location: St. Croix Bluffs Regional Park, Hastings
Weather: 77°, partly cloudy
BOYS
Virtual Meet Projections: Eagan (44), Osseo (56), East Ridge (66)
Individuals to watch: Mackinon Mokoro (Osseo, 16:04.0), Aidan Browne (Woodbury, 16:16.3), Jon Faller (East Ridge, 16:33.6), Paul Schmitter (Eagan, 16:41.1), Andre Huston (Eagan, 16:49.3), Parker Hahn (Park Cottage Grove, 16:51.2), Michael Marshall (Eagan, 16:51.7), Sean McNiesh (East Ridge, 16:52.8)
The Skinny: Eight individuals come into this one with a PR under 17 minutes, three from Eagan, making them the favorite in our projections. Osseo senior Mackinon Mokoro is the individual favorite, after finishing second at the Irish Invite two-mile last week but the Orioles will need to have someone step up to close their split down. Eagan looks to have the potential to get five across in less than a minute while Osseo and contender East Ridge may be more towards the 90 second range. It should be a tight match up with a lot of variability in both the individual top ten and the top three team scores.
GIRLS
Virtual Meet Projections: East Ridge (57), Woodbury (67), Eagan (73), Red Wing (76), Osseo (77)
Individuals to watch: Grace Johnson (Red Wing, 18:15.8), Lex Davis (Osseo, 18:41.4), Halle Mestery (East Ridge, 18:47.2), Nicole Kelly (S. St Paul, 19:06.5), Gabriela Baltes (Osseo, 19:12.2)
The Skinny: The top four teams could be separated by less than 20 points in this one, with East Ridge as the projected favorite among a group that includes Woodbury, Eagan and Red Wing. Red Wing senior Grace Johnson has the fastest PR in the group and is coming off an outstanding sixth place finish at St Olaf last week. Osseo sophomore Lex Davis and East Ridge sophomore Halle Mestery have also broken 19 minutes with Mestery having done so last week in her win at Orono. East Ridge, led by Davis, and Woodbury led by senior Anna Muellner look to be the only teams with two runners in the top ten and if it plays out that way on Thursday it will likely come down to those two in the team title race.