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After the excitement of having Roy Griak and the Milaca Mega Meet in the same week, we go back to our more normal Minnesota cross country schedule, and this week's big meet is the Osseo Invitational. Elite competition and teams across Minnesota's Class A, AA, and AAA will line up at the Osseo Invitational to compete against each other in our meet of the week.
Virtual Meet Results
Individual Boys | Boys Teams | Individual Girls | Girls Teams
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Boys Race Preview
Minnesota Coaches Ranked Runners: Noah Breker (4th Class AAA), Gabriel Birkmeier (6th Class AAA), Emmett Gerres (2nd Class AA), Charlie Power Theisen (6th Class AA), Noah Mahony (8th Class AA), Emmett Wolf (HM Class AA), Luke Swanson (10th Class A), Isak Nightingale (11th Class A)
Minnesota Coaches Ranked Teams: Rosemount (2nd Class AAA), Centennial (HM Class AAA), Monticello (4th Class AA), St. Thomas Academy (11th Class AA), Parnassus Preparatory School (2nd Class A), Northwest Nighthawks (7th Class A)
Runners and teams from across all classes in Minnesota will face off against each other at the Osseo Invitational. The team side is headlined by the Rosemount boys who are coming off a huge performance at the Roy Griak to finish 5th overall. Their biggest threat at this meet might come from a strong Andover boys team who is led by Gabriel Birkmeier and Cameron Heppner. They recently finished 7th at the Milaca Mega Meet against a bevy of other Class AAA schools.
They will go up against a bevy of ranked Class AA and A schools, most notably the Monticello boys and the upstart Parnassus Prep boys. Both are among the best in their respective classes, but our virtual meet results still have them a ways behind Rosemount, Centennial, and Andover.
The boy's individual race seems to be between a few of this season's upstart stars in Emmett Gerres, Noah Breker, and Gabriel Birkmeier. All three have personal bests time this season between 15:39 and 15:48, and all three have posted huge PRs this season relative to previous seasons. They are the only three boys in the field with a seasonal best under 16:00.
The favorite in this race has to be Emmett Gerres. He has won four races this season, had had four 5K races under 16:00 this season, and has all-around been one of the most consistent runners in Minnesota this season. Don't count out Noah Breker and Gabriel Birkmeier though. Breker is coming off a huge breakout performance at the Milaca Mega Meet, where he finished 1st in the D1 boy's race. Not far behind him though was Birkmeier who also posted a big personal best there.
Girls Race Preview
Minnesota Coaches Ranked Runners: Kaelyn Nelson (6th Class AAA)
Minnesota Coaches Ranked Teams: Monticello (5th Class AA)
Unlike the boy's races, the girl's side is lighter on elite competition, but it still seems like it should be a good race. In our virtual meet projections, we have Class AAAs Maple Grove, Andover, Centennial, and Osseo; above the Class AA ranked Monticello. The projections have it being a close race between Maple Grove and Andover. The Andover girls might have the leg up on Maple Grove, as they are coming off a strong 6th overall performance at the Milaca Mega Meet.
On the individual girl's side, it appears to be a two-girl race between Kaelyn Nelson, and Elizabeth VanLoon, as they are the only two girls in the field with a PR under 19:00. They are both at least 30 seconds faster than any other runner in the field.
The edge has to go to Kaelyn Nelson as she is coming off a strong 4th place finish at the Milaca Mega Meet and has averaged about 19:00 per 5K this season. VanLoon on the other hand is coming off an uncharacteristic performance at the Roy Griak where she ran a 23:36.