Edina Girls, Mound View Boys Use Team Depth to Win AA Titles

Boys Class AA Team Recap

FULL RESULTS | VIDEO INTERVIEWS | PHOTO GALLERY

With a mile to go, Mounds View had a lot of work to do. At the finish line, they had done exactly enough to win the Minnesota Class AA state title by a mere point over runner-up Eden Prairie. In an incredibly tight competition, Mounds View overcame an great team race by Eden Prairie with a epic final two miles that produced the Mustangs long awaited first state title. At the mile mark Eden Prairie was in front by 99 points but as the race went on the Mounds View erased that deficit. Even with a mile left the Mustangs trailed by 42 points before earning an 86-87 win over the Eagles. Eden Prairie was rock solid in their 50 second split with an average two seconds better than Mounds View. But the Mustangs one through five finished just 22 seconds apart erasing a scoring advantage in the first three scoring spots. 

Overall, Mounds View placed their top five in the top 26 scoring runners and top 39 overall. Eden Prairie had two in the top seven scorers but the incredibly tight scoring five for the Mustangs overcame that advantage in the front. Senior Finn Sokolowski was Mounds View's top finisher in 13th overall (8th scoring), followed by senior Alec Nelson (15), senior Will Sacay (31), freshman Elliott McArthur (35), senior Santino Preciado (39), junior Matthew Miller (83), and Nathaniel Apostle (136) completing the title roster.

Eden Prairie was led by senior Jake Derouin who finished fourth overall, an impressive rebound in a year hindered by medical issues. Saint Paul Highland Park produced an excellent third place team performance with 135 points led by senior Oliver Paleen winning the individual title. Fourth place Edina edged fifth place Prior Lake 158-160 using a 50 second team split to overcome the Lakers better team average of 16:27.

Class AA Individual Recap

With a bit more than a mile left along the well-known prairie loop St Paul Highland Park senior Oliver Paleen led a pack of three toward the finish knowing it was likely one of them would be the new state champ. Eventually inside the last 1k Paleen slowly gained a small gap and held out a furious final push from runner-up Chanhassen senior Nick Scheller to win the Class AA title. Paleen used a new PR and Highland Park record setting 15:25.2 to win the title over Scheller who over came Eastview senior AJ Green in the final 100m to take home his best finish in five trips to the state meet. 

Green used a new PR of 15:31.8 to take third, improving on his eighth place finish a year ago. The gap back to fourth place was nine seconds where Eden Prairie senior Jake Derouin also earned a new career best of 15:40.2 in his best state meet finish in three appearances. Winona senior Carter Briggs was edged by Derouin at the line leaving Briggs fifth in his new PR of 15:40.8 and earning him his best state result in four appearances. Overall there will be a very new look to the top ten next season as nine of the top ten finishers are set to graduate in May.

Class AA MNXCCA All-State (top 25 individuals)