Analysis - What We Learned From Week 3 of Racing

The Bruce Gluff Invitational in Luverne brought two of the top A boys teams together in Redwood Valley and Windom. Redwood Valley came out with a dominant victory, defeating Windom by a score of 27 to 66. With five runners under 18:00 on the day, Redwood Valley continues to cement its claim as one of the teams to beat come the state meet. Not to be outdone by the boys, the Redwood Valley girls also came away with a commanding victory, placing four girls in the top 10 and an average time of 21:20. 

At the Warner Lake Invitational hosted by St. Cloud Tech, the St. Cloud Cathedral girls came out on top with a tight win over an up-and-coming AA team in Willmar. Coming off a second place performance at the 8AA section preview last week, Willmar is looking to be a tough opponent this season. Ultimately, St. Cloud Cathedral came out on top by a score of 30 to 35. 

At the Titan Invitational, host school Greenway-Nashwauk-Keewatin showed their status as one of the most consistent A boys programs in the state remains in tact. With a tough AAA opponent in Brainerd and AA opponent in Hibbing, GNK would come out with a second place effort. Look for this team to continue its streak of state meet appearances come November. In the girls competition, Crosby-Ironton continued building on its success from last season, with a second place effort losing by only two points to the 12th ranked AAA Brainerd girls. With an average time of 21:53 and spread of only 25 seconds between their 1-3 runners, this team has a ton of upside. 

The Barnesville girls continued to show they may be in the mix for a podium finish come November. Coming away with a victory and score of 18 points, Barnesville had four girls under 22:30. 

Moving on the the Mark Alcorn Invitational, hosted by Holdinford High School, the New London-Spicer girls showed they are looking to repeat as state champions this year. Coming out on top with a winning score of 27 points, their girls averaged 21:23 and had the fastest fifth runner (among A girls teams this week) in a time of 22:10. Given they have a proven front runner in Kyla Vick and a tight spread of 1:00 between their second and fifth runners, this team looks to be tough to beat. 

One of the larger A gatherings in the state took place this week at the Gerry Smith Invitational, hosted by Tri-City United High School. Three of the top A boys teams in the state: Mounds Park Academy, Sibley East, and Nova Classical Academy duked it out against each other, in what would prove to be a tight team battle. Given their is no clear favorite A boys teams, these close team battles seem like they will continue to be a common occurrence all the way through November. Ultimately, Mounds Park Academy would once again come out on top with the victory over Nova Classical Academy (raced each other last week at the Ron Kretsch Invitational) and Sibley East. Given Mounds Park Academy came out on top by only 26 points over Sibley East and 32 points over Nova Classical Academy, this race demonstrated the difference from Mounds Park Academy came down to its front running (three in the top 10) and depth (seventh runner was 47th). 

This team continues to demonstrate they will be one of the A favorites come championship season. In what is becoming apparent to many across the state the Mankato Loyola-Cleveland girls are demonstrating they are more than individual talent this year. While the Gerry Smith Invitational is a notoriously fast course, it is an encouraging sign when your 5th runner crossed the line in 21:16. Couple that with one of the A favorites in Charlotte Meyer, and three other girls under 22:00, this team will be a serious contender come championship season. 

In what has quickly become of the more competitive A and AA gatherings in the state, Rockford High Schools Rocket Run was hosted at Shamrock Golf Course. On the boys side, the Northwest Nighthawks and Heritage Christian Academy were the top A teams in the competition. It would be the Northwest Nighthawks coming out on top, showing a dominant level of depth over their A competition. They would defeat Heritage Christian Academy by 40 points, with all seven scoring members crossing the line before Heritage Christian Academies fifth runner. 

Finally, in Southeast Minnesota, the Hayfield Invitational took place this week. One of the most consistent A girls programs in recent year, Rochester Lourdes, came out with a tight victory over Blooming Prairie. With an average time of 21:38 and a fifth runner coming across the line in 22:42, this team is showing they may not have the front runners of some other teams, but is capable of getting all five runners across the line in a smaller spread than many other A teams. 

While A is generally one of the tougher classes to predict on an annual basis, there are some clear signs as to which teams will be competing at the state meet come November and which teams will be competing for a podium/state championship. With the Roy Griak Invitational taking place on September 19, even more will be flushed out in the near future.