Couple takeaways from the Roy Griak invite today:
1) Fries solidifies his status as a national contender, as he extends his unbeaten streak with a dominant win. He clocks a time of 15:29, which is 6 seconds faster than what Mechura ran last year and 23 seconds faster than Fries’ own performance a year ago. This shows that he’s in much better shape than last season, the season where he finished 9th at footlocker nationals as the top junior. He’s also ahead of where Mechura was last year, which bodes well given Robert’s top 10 finish at NXN. He also continues to dominate his heartland and midwest opponents, as he extends his record against Mikah Peters to 3-0 this season. Peters was convincingly dropped a little after the mile, with Fries simply turning up the notch while Mikah was left behind with no response. Peters later posted on social media that he was sick, commenting “flu game” under the post of Fries winning, although I’m not sure how much it affected the outcome. Fries had convincingly dismantled him at their previous 2 meetings, with the South Dakotan seeming to struggle in hillier course with the margin of victory being less at Augustana than Olaf, but damning nonetheless. Even if Peters was supposedly not at his best, Fries would still prevail, perhaps even running faster as he soloed the latter half of the race. Ultimately, excited for what Fries will achieve on the national stage and how he will respond to competition of his caliber, think we could be in for one of the best individual seasons from an MN boy.
2) Stuwe once again shows he’s the clear #2 in the state, being the second minnesotan by a decent margin. Shoutout to David Obst of AA, who was ranked 7th among his division, but beat high rankers such as Deutz and Hallen, a great performance which should be reflected by a bump in the standings. Other notable performances come from Liam Merrel, Zak Mohamed, and Channing Goodwin, as they all achieve a top 21 standing in great showings. Merrel really showing out here with Mohamed also impressing beyond what was expected. Goodwin with a super solid day leading his Rosemount squad. Slightly more disappointing day for the highly touted Erik Semling, who gets 16th (still a good placing mind you) despite the hype surrounding him. Interesting to note is Emery Wirth who placed 22nd running 16:36. Considering Salvador’s impressive showing yesterday at the collegiate level, one has to wonder if lightning will strike twice within the Wirth household!
3) Moving onto the team battle, Wayzata comes out on top but by a lesser margin than expected. They edge out Rosemount who finish 27 points behind them and Minnetonka who lag behind by 64 points. Interesting to note that Perham beat Wayzata and was the top Minnesota team, with St Paul Como Park beating MInnetonka as well, showing the quality that AA has to offer. While Wayzata ultimately came out on top, it’s hard to ignore Rosemount’s performance. Only being 27 points behind with a subpar performance from one of their best (Boston Peterson) shows the potential that this team has in challenging Wayzata, as if they could string together a good day they could very well challenge for the state title. The same goes out to Minnetonka, who’s top 3 was ahead of Wayzata’s by a decent margin. Impressive performances from Kraus and Nordstrom (16:51 for 35th and 16:55 for 43rd respectively) who continue to build off their previous meets as they best highly ranked runners such as Ohe and Heltemes. I did notice they went out quite hard aswell (4:50 and 4:56 first miles), so if they can tidy up their race strategy I’m sure they could run even better. The top end talent has never been a doubt with Tonka; however, the 4 and 5 has been called into question this season. Tonka’s 4th man today ran 17:53 scoring 142 points, while their 5th ran 18:43 scoring 225 points. The immense gap between the top 3 and the rest of their scorers is ultimately what cost them today, but the fact they were still somewhat competitive despite this bodes well. If their 4th and 5th can avoid blowing up like they did today, they should be firmly in the battle for the state title. Blaine should also be praised, as they finish closely behind Tonka while missing one of their main men in Burroughs. They should be able to contend for the win along with the previously stated teams. Another disappointing performance from Two Rivers (who were previously ranked 2nd) must raise some questions within their camp. Dahlahger has been missing for the last two meets so one has to wonder where he is. Ultimately, this race showcases that the state meet title is wide open, with 4 teams having a legitimate chance at winning in November, has to be one of the most open and exciting team battles we’ve had in a while.
4) While the team battle is interesting for the Minnesota state competition, the battle at NXR for MN teams will likely be uninspiring. The highest placing Minnesota team in Perham only finished 8th, with other heartland teams missing from the competition. It seems that MN will be reliant on a few individuals this year to represent at the national level, with Fries definitely bound and perhaps Stuwe or Semling if they can continue their form and capitalize on their potential.
5) Going to make a quick rankings here of boys AAA following this meet, going to try and not be too reactionary to these results:
1) Sean Fries
2) Owen Stuwe
3) Liam Merrel
4) Zak Mohamed
5) Sander Ohe
6) Lucas Capistrant
7) Tyler Flippen
8) Thomas McVay
9) Connor Heltemes
10) Channing Goodwin
11) Ben Kraus
12) Blake Frazer
HM: Tristan Lenton, Casey Nordstrom
I can’t ignore the massive performances from Merrel and Mohamed, convincingly beating Ohe and Capistrant who were ranked ahead. Can’t ignore Ben Kraus either who beats Ohe, Heltemes, and Deutz while also having ran 15:38 early on. Lenton continues to be strong while Nordstrom does beat out highly ranked stars like Ohe and Heltemes, although I would like to see it more consistently to place.
