From left to right: Natasha Sortland, Hamza, Mohamed, Sydney Drevlow, and Sam Scott
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We have had some record-breaking and incredible performances this week, it was tough to choose just four boys and girls for the polls, but we had to anyways!
With the first few weeks of the cross country season, we can now go week by week to determine our participants for boys and girls runner of the week! This poll will be for performances from September 13th to September 19th.
Each will there will be four boys and four girls for each poll. Participants are based on the MileSplit Minnesota staff's opinions. The rest is up to you!
Runner of the Week Winners:
| Week | Boy Winner | Girl Winner |
| 1 | Emmett Gerres | Ali Weimer |
| 2 | Lance Nemecek | Marissa Long |
So without further ado...
Will Harder of Rosemount High School led his squad to a big victory at the Rochester Mayo Invitational and had a 2nd place finish himself on a tough course. The Rosemount boys won the meet over some good competition in Onalaska (WI), and Stillwater. In the end, Harder led his team to a narrow victory over Onalaska, but a decisive victory over Stillwater.
Logan Drevlow made some noise in his first 5K as a seventh-grader. He ran a 17:31.90 in his first 5K at the Lucky Lindy Invitational to finish 14th overall. According to our database, this is the 30th fastest 5K time for a seventh-grader all-time in Minnesota. The scary thing? There is plenty of season left for him to try and catch Salvador Wirth's record of 16:38.80. His time is also the 3rd fastest runner for the 5K nationally in his class.
Sam Scott is on a different level right now not seen this early in the season since Max Manley in 2018. That season Manley started off his season with 8 straight sub 16:00 performances. Scott now has three straight performances of that nature after winning the Lakeville Apple Jack Invitational with a time of 15:33.80. On average, Scott has been faster than Manley had been at the same points in their seasons. Scott also helped lead his team to the Apple Jack title, over some strong Lakeville squads.
Hamza Mohamed came away with a narrow victory at Metro Invitational with a margin of 0.05 seconds separating him and James Olson. More importantly, Mohamed lead the Wayzata boys to a dominant team performance where they won with 35 points over Roseville's 65. Their team was able to finish 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th, after Mohamed's 1st place finish.
Natasha Sortland came away with a big victory over some ranked competition and did it decisively at the Rochester Mayo Invitational. She ended up with a time of 18:38.61 and won by about 20 seconds over Zoie Dundon. On a tough course, she was able to match the times of the Ping sisters who finished 1st and 2nd in 2018, might greater things be on Sortlands way?
Sydney Drevlow won her third race of the season at the Heartland Classic with a time of 18:03.80 to win the race by 11 seconds. She compiled a speed rating of 137. Like her brother, she has the third fast 5K time nationally for her class. Overall she has the 32nd fastest time nationally.
Sara Gastony got her first big career win as an eighth-grader at the Lakeville Apple Jack invitational, beating out a loaded field of other ranked runners. Gastony finished with a time of 19:01.30 to beat out 2nd place finished Iris Guider by 4 seconds. That is a new PR for Gastony, beating her old best of 19:02.90.
Amanda Overgaauw won her third consecutive meet of the season at the Marshall Invite and became just the third Minnesota girl this season to run a sub 18:00 minute 5K. She finished with a time of 17:49.90 to beat out the rest of the field by over a minute.