* Edina's Lyla Drayna (1817) finished runner-up at the Brave Like Gabe Invitational last weekend
Photo: Nate Unger/MileSplit Minnesota
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The Minnesota cross country season opened up this past weekend, with a handful of meets playing hosts to season debuts and a lot of rust busting.
One of the featured meets of the weekend was the 7th Annual 7th Annual Brave Like Gabe Invitational, held at Arvig Park in Perham, Minn. The meet honors Gabriele "Gabe" Grunewald, a Perham native and professional middle-distance runner who passed away in June 2019 after a decade-long battle with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare salivary gland cancer, and her sister Abby Anderson, who also lost her life tragically in the years that followed.
Edina Girls Put Three In The Top Five, Cruise To Team Title
The Hornets opened up their 2026 campaign with a dominant win at Arvig Park, getting off to a strong start as they chase their first state title since 2019.
Edina's 1-2 punch of Lyla Drayna (18:10) and Evelyn Hoppe (18:43.60) finished second and third, followed by Eva Jain (19:08) in fifth.
Kate Hansen (20:39) and Anna Irwin (20:55) rounded out the scoring for the Hornets following 16th and 20th-place finishes, making Edina the lone team to have all top-five runners inside the top-20. The Hornets even had all seven runners finish inside the top-30.
Their closest competition came in the form of Hillsboro/Central Valley (N.D.), who made things a little nerve-racking with a trio of finishers in the top-10, with freshman Claire Grinde posting a PB to take her second race of the season.
Kayla Moch (19:19) and Caroline Anderson (19:47) finished seventh and ninth for the out-of-state contenders, and were fairly competitive with Edina through the first three runners.
In the end, Edina's depth and spread was too much to overcome. Shanley High School finished third overall, putting two North Dakota teams on the podium.
Luca Rout Leads Davies To Big Out-Of-State Win
One of North Dakota's top teams made the trek across the state border and left Minnesota with a lot of confidence and some early-season hardware.
Junior frontrunner Luca Rout was at the helm of Davies' win, finishing third in 16:05.5, not far off the season opener he posted in 2025. Rout was the lone Eagle in the top-10, but Keagan Thomson (16:47), Chance Johnson (16:47), and Jack Anderson (16:57) finished 13th, 14th, and 15th, while Jack Brachman (17:10) finished 23rd to cap off the scoring effort.
Eastview and Edina both did everything they could to take down Davies, but ultimately came up 15 and 26 points short.
Similar to Edina on the girls' side, Davies put all seven runners inside the top-30, with their entire squad finishing ahead of every other team's fifth runner.