Round 1:
Noah Breker (1) vs. Andrew Casey (8)
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Noah Breker:
There wasn't much that Noah Breker didn't do this season. He started his season off with a St. Olaf High School Showcase win, won the Roy Griak boys gold race, won the Northwest Suburban Conference title, qualified for Team Nationals as an individual, became Minnesota's first Champs (Footlocker/Eastbay) National Qualifier since 2008, and broke the Minnesota boys XC 5K state record.
Breker had a truly historic season that was only interrupted by illness and injury at the Sections and State meet. His 5K time of 14:51.00 was a new state record by 3 seconds, improving on Seth Eliason's record from 2016.
Along the way, Breker also broke the Gale Woods Farm course record and ran the fastest 5K time on Minnesota soil ever with his time of 14:57.20. Overall, a truly historic season for Breker. He is also the only Minnesota high school boy ever to run a sub 15-minute 5K twice.
Andrew Casey:
One of only two teams to beat the Wayzata boys and the only one to do it twice was Andrew Casey and the Lakeville North boys. The Lakeville North boys won the St. Olaf High School Showcase and finished as the runner-up in the Roy Griak boys Gold race ahead of Wayzata and the rest of the Minnesota boys teams.
The Lakeville North boys won every meet against Minnesota competition up until the state meet where they finished 3rd overall behind Wayzata and Rosemount, both teams who they beat on multiple occasions. Overall they won 6 meets in Minnesota and in every meet their #1 runner was Andrew Casey.
Casey won five meets this season that included the prestigious Lakeville AppleJack Invitational, the Owatonna Ev Berg Invitational, and both the South Suburban Conference and Section 1AAA titles. Casey set a new 5K PR of 15:16.95 that ranked #8 in Minnesota this season.
