Location: Gale Woods Farm, Minnetrista
Weather: Mid-40's, light winds, cloudy
THE SKINNY: Few races in the state garner the attention given to the section 6AA cross country championships. While several sections sections will offer equally talented fields this season, the traditional "section of death" moniker still applies for how difficult it will be to advance to the state meet both as an individual and as a team through this section. With five class AA coach ranked teams in the field, as per the usual challenge, three teams with talent to finish in the top 10 or better at St Olaf will not make it past Gale Woods on Wednesday afternoon. Few if any sections will potentially require a two athletes to dip under 16 minutes for a team qualification as nine boys have gone 16:10 or faster this season and 16:00 would have earned an athlete seventh place in the 2018 iteration of this meet. No. 7 ranked Hopkins has the fastest group of season best results giving them a slight edge over no. 1 ranked Eden Prairie. However, EP finally saw their top runner return to racing in the last two weeks and even with Jake Derouin as their no. 2 man they still won the incredibly competitive Lakes Conference title by 52 points. Hopkins was third in that meet behind both EP and no. 11 Minnetonka. No. 5 ranked Edina will look to bounce back from a sub-par day at that same meet which saw them a surprising sixth with only one athlete in the top ten and just two in the top 15. If the Hornets regain their form and run with the potential seen most of the season, no one will be shocked to see Edina earn a team state meet berth. Always dangerous Wayzata has crept back into the state rankings over the last two weeks but has yet to show the depth to keep pace with the incredible breadth of talent needed to run in the top two in section 6AA, but no serious follower of Minnesota cross country would totally write off the Trojans. Minnetonka running as runner up at Lake Conference may signal they are ready to impress as well, though it's likely they would still need to improve on their 17:00 average from that meet to break through with a team state berth. Six teams will head into the meet with a team average under 16:50 and the top three with splits under 55 seconds.
The top five individuals from last year's meet graduated leaving Eden Prairie senior Jake Derouin as the top returner with his sixth place result in 2018. He has run just two races this season and remains an unknown but posted a 16:29 at the Lakes Conference meet, good for fifth on that day and indicating he is still capable of quality results. Hopkins senior Niko Schmanski has the fastest time in the section this year but finished ninth among Lakes Conference peers last week. Benilde Saint Margaret senior Peter Lynch is also another name to watch on in equally competitive individual qualifying race as he has broken 16 minutes and won the Griak Maroon race this season. Eden Prairie seniors Mohamed Mohamud and Zachary Spears and junior Isaac Hartman have each run 16:10 or better as have Hopkins juniors Ben Haberman and Leo Goodman. Wayzata senior Shuayb Hussein is fresh off defeating all the top runners in the field with his Lakes Conference title and could be argued as the race favorite coming into Thursday with a new PR of 16:04. Minnetonka senior Max Lauerman was second to Hussein in that race and was seventh in this meet a year ago, the second best returning finish, before going on to a 19th place state meet finish. Edina senior Russell Gokemeijer was sixth at the Lakes meet and has a PR under 16 minutes but has yet to run within 25 seconds of that result this season.
GIRLS VIRTUAL MEET
THE SKINNY: Everything said above about the competitiveness of the section could be echoed here once again. It's possible you could have an athlete run under 19 minutes and not finish in the top ten individually or have three runners under that mark and finish fourth as a team. In our projection using season best marks, class AA no. 2 ranked Edina looks to be a favorite with five runners in the top 15 and a potential split under 30 seconds. The Hornets are fresh off a tight Lake Conference title and the only teams to better the full strength Edina roster were MNXCCA no. 1 Stillwater or nationally ranked out of state squads. Wayzata remains the biggest x-factor in the state as they continue to improve without the services of top athlete Emma Atkinson. They were runner up to Edina last week by a narrow five points and had seven runners go under 20 minutes in that race, including last year's 6AA no. 8 eight finisher Caroline Sassan running in the seventh spot for the Trojans. It may be fair to consider Edina a favorite but the talent pool for Wayzata warrants national level considerations and we still have yet to what is likely their true strength this season. No. 7 ranked Minnetonka was third at the Lakes meet and will be knocking on the door of the second state meet team slot with the ability to grab seven sticks inside the top 35. St Louis Park seems to lack the depth to push for a state meet spot but remains solid enough to challenge for a finish in the top four. Hopkins is an interesting case having run just five athletes in the Lakes meet last week but could have three athletes run in the top ten. Their split of nearly two minutes would make it hard to challenge for a state meet qualification against such a deeply talented field but with such a strong front group its likely their efforts will affect who wins the team race.
Six individual runners ranked or receiving votes in the class AA coaches poll will toe the line at Gale Woods. No. 8 ranked Hopkins seventh grader Sydney Drevlow was third at the Lakes meet last week and has the fastest season best in the field of 18:00.. Her teammate junior Laci Provenzano has run 18:07 this season but was 20th last week finishing behind many of the athletes who will compete for section 6AA's highly coveted individual state meet berths. No. 2 ranked Wayzata freshman Abbey Nechanicky will likely be considered the race favorite, especially after her convincing Lakes Conference win last week to go along with her wins at the St Olaf Showcase and the Milaca Mega Meet D1 race. But Nechanicky's most impressive performance may have been a fourth place 18:13 run in the Griak Gold race showing the ability to race when competition is best. She was fifth in 6AA last and is the third best returner behind teammate Emma Atkinson and Eden Prairie no. 11 ranked senior Liesl Paulsen. Paulsen is one of only two seniors projected in the top ten and was fourth at the Lakes meet last week. She also was fourth in 6AA last year before finishing 12th at state and breaking 18 minutes at NXR where she was also 12th. Edina freshman Lauren Cossack, senior Morgan Richter and sophomore Maggie Wagner went 5-6-7 in the Hornets conference championship and should be among the top ten at sections this year. Ricther and Wagner were seventh and tenth respectively in 2018. St Louis Park eighth grader Jersey Miller is enjoying a break out season and is a strong candidate to earn one of the section's individual state meet tickets. Hopkins sophomore Elsa Bergman and Minnetonka eighth grader Ella Graham also have gone under 19 minutes this year and project in the top ten.