Weather: High 30's, cloudy, light wind
TEAMS TO WATCH: Northwest Homeschool, Annandale, St Cloud Cathedral, Heritage Christian
INDIVIDUALS TO WATCH: Luke Swanson (Northwest, 15:41.1), Jeremiah Gavin (16:22.8), Sal Wirth (Annandale, 16:38.8), Travis Miller (Heritage Christian, 16:44), Nels Trandahl (Rockford, 16:46.8), Cooper Lennox (Mora, 16:48), Evan Lee (Lester Praire-Holy Trinity-Mayer Lutheran, 16:58.4), Jeffrey Henrikson (Maple Lake, 16:59.5), Isaac Herrmann (Annandale, 17:07.8), Jared Nordstrom (Heritage Christian, 17:09.5)
THE SKINNY: Northwest Homeschool Coop appears as the favorite in the season best projections with the ability to place three in the top 11 and all five in the top 30. Annandale is also able to put five in the top 30 season bests in section 5A and they have an edge on St Cloud Cathedral and Heritage Christian who will each need improvements in their fifth runner to challenge for the second state meet qualifying spot. Heritage is ranked 12 in the last coaches poll and was runner up as a team last season. Northwest bettered Heritage at the Mora regular season meet and beat Annandale at the Litchfield meet. Heritage finished in front of Annandale in their only meeting at Pierz. St Cloud Cathedral appeared to not have raced any of the top tier 5A teams during the season.
Northwest sophomores Luke Swanson and Jeremiah Gavin have the best two times of the season ahead of Annandale seventh grader Sal Wirth. It should be noted that many of the season best times of those two teams came at the Litchfield meet that was run largely on paved surfaces and produced most athletes season best marks by 30-45 seconds. However even in season averages not including those times, Northwest remains the projected top team with Swanson as the section's top individual. Heritage Christian senior Travis Miller was fifth behind senior teammate Jared Nordstrom, Swanson and Rockford senior Nels Trandahl in last year's 5A meet and they all figure to be in the mix again this season. Mora senior Coober Lennox has rebounded from a slow start to win the Granite Ridge Conference in 16:48 last week and comes in as the two-time defending section champion. Maple Lake senior Jeffrey Henrikson and LP-HT-ML senior Evan Lee join Miller, Nordstrom, Lennox and Trandahl as leaders for the individual state meet spots from section 5A.
GIRLS VIRTUAL MEET
TEAMS TO WATCH: Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, Maple Lake, Annandale, Lester Prairie-Holy Trinity-Mayer Lutheran
INDIVIDUALS TO WATCH: Addison Hoof (LP-HT-ML, 18:15.5), Gracie Mallak (HL-W-W, 18:34.1), Brooke Baumann (HL-W-W, 18:44.8), Augusta Demarais (Maple Lake, 19:15.5), Margaret Myskowski (NW Homeschool, 19:40.2), Maddie Kelly (19:42.3), Jessa Heimerl (LP-TH-ML, 19:49.5), Sophie Pribyl (Maple Lake, 19:51.6), Jacklyn Tepley (HL-W-W, 19:51.6), Mary Miller (Maple Lake, 19:55.6)
THE SKINNY: Class A no. 6 Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted looks to be the strong favorite to win section 5A with the strength to potentially score five inside the top 25. Maple Lake is right with HL-W-W through the first four scoring positions but has too big a gap in our virtual meet back to their fifth runner and that allows HL-W-W to pull away and third place projection Annandale to move into what could be a very close race for the second team state meet berth. HL-W-W beat Maple Lake in all five 5k events in which they went head to head this season. Yet Annandale beat both HL-W-W and Maple Lake at Pierz midseason but was behind both teams on the fast track at Litchfield in early October. When considering season average performances HL-W-W remains the favorite but Maple Lake has been more consistent than Annandale on the year. Providence Academy also averaged a 21:35 team average over eight races this year, second best in the section.
No 8 ranked Lester Prairie seventh grader Addison Hoof has the best time of the season across the section but HL-W-W senior Gracie Mallak, ranked 12 was 5A runner-up last season going on to an 11th place state meet result. Hoof bettered Mallak in their only meeting at Litchfield this season, the fastest result for either athlete. Providence Academy senior Maddie Kelly has the third best season average and is defending section champ and has the sixth best result in the section this year when she defeated Mallak head to head at Mora. HL-W-W could have both sophomore Brooke Baumann and eighth grader Jacklyn Tepley in the top ten. Maple Lake has junior Augusta Demarais, the fourth fastest in the section this season, junior Sophie Pribyl and junior Mary Miller projected in the top ten as well. If Maple Lake can keep those three in the top ten or better, it's likely they'll edge Annandale for the second place finish and move on to state. LP-HT-ML eighth grader Jessa Heimerl, NW Homeschool senior Margaret Myskowski and Spectrum freshman Molly Novotny join Kelly as top candidates for individual state meet berths.