OFFICIAL 2026 MSHSL TF (Indoor as well)

Were just about one week from track starting! Here are some of the favorites, feel free to correct anything that you think I mess up!

AAA

W 3200m - Maddie Gullickson is the going to win unless she gets hurt. Does anyone know of any other girls to ever win it all four years? Hopefully breaks Emily Coverts record of 10:01

M 3200m - Sean Fries, another obvious favorite, with Stuwe as #2. Similar to Maddie, he has a good amount of work to break the record of 8:43, held by Elliott Health. But he has been running more this winter.

W 1600m - A much closer race in my opinion. Carley LaMotte has been having a very impressive winter and, depending on how she plays her cards, she could upset Maddie.

M 1600m - Sean again, much less exciting. Not super fast and no one really close to him.

W 800m - Should be one of the best events to watch this spring. Noella Ross moves up to #2 all time during the indoor season. But there are many girls right behind her. Evie Malec, Carley LaMotte, Lauren Lansing, and Lila Golimb!

M 800m - Aaron Peterson comes in as the top returner but Simeon Donaldson has been having a very good indoor season. Possible for both to go under 1:50, something that has never happened in Minnesota!

AA on Tuesday and A on Thursday!

I want to make a correction, I know Monticello moved to AAA for XC but I wasn't 100% sure if it was the same for track. As I believe it is, this year we will see Isabel Mahoney in the 3200m and 1600m. While I believe she dose not pose too much of a threat to Maddie, I still think she will be the closest to her in the 32. I think back to Hamline last year, hopefully we will we them race more than once!

Anyway, it is Tuesday which means AA!!

W 3200m - with Isabel Mahoney gone, you lose the defending champ and favorite. That being said, the favorite now is probably AA XC champion Keria Friedrich or 2025 3200m runner up Annika Hall. In my opinion, Friedrichs has the upper hand coming off a very good XC season.

M 3200m - This could be one of the closest races of any class, any race. The top returner (4th last year) is David Obst from Kasson-Mantorville with Charlie Bortnem (5th last year) being only 2 seconds behind him. But in XC we saw Charlie Loth, a junior, take the title. Gabe Hallen could be in the mix, but I highly doubt he will run this even much.

W 1600m - Keria Friedrich is the favorite and defending state champ. Four seconds behind, you have Annika Hall and 0.01 behind Annika you have Makayah Petricka. This will be a very closely contended race.

M 1600m - Gabe Hallen is the class of the field in this event. He is not only the highest and fastest returner in AA but in the entire state. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the favorite in this event.

W 800m - Another very close race! The top three girls are separated by less than a second. The defending state champ, Ella Dirks, does return, but there are two girls with faster PR's than her. Keria Friedrich is again a contender in this even.

M 800m - Gabe Hallen is again the top and fastest returner. The biggest issue that several AA athletes, including Gabe, face, is picking what events to do when state comes around. Doing the 1600 and 800 is one of the hardest doubles to do, especially the 800. This is all made harder by the up and coming talent in the 800m.

Please feel free to add your thoughts or correct anything! I'm sure IceCold will be making their version sometime!

I'll give you an athlete to watch in Class AA for boys - Connor Malecka from Detroit Lakes. He's coming off a strong XC season and ran a 9:01 3k indoors on a flat 200m track winning his heat by 15 seconds.

Charlie Loth seems to be a bit of a wildcard. He looked really comfortable winning state xc, and he should be the favorite in the 3200. Where is he running in college? Seems to have a lot of upside. Fun to see a lot of names in the mix for a championship.

On the AAA side, Sean could get the state record if he can get in a fast race with good weather somewhere. Is he running Arcadia or can MN not run there? There is a chance someone could challenge him in the mile this year as well.

Also looks like Mechura broke 14 in the 5k at conference, it appears he has one of the top 5k times in the nation as an American freshman as well;

https://www.flashresults.com/2026_Meets/Indoor/02-26_ACC/027-1_compiled.htm

Loth is actually a junior!

Noted! Detroit Lakes has a history of producing good distance runners. I'll make sure to watch!

Looks like only Tayvon Kitchen (BYU) and Luke Alverson (Michigan) have run faster indoor 5k times as true American freshman than Mechura this winter.

We're 4 days out from track! Been pretty busy with work today, but A is today!

W 3200m - Margret Duffy is the favorite in the women's 3200m. She was the fastest in A last year, won state in the 3200m, and XC A state this past fall. Behind her should be Audrey Brownell, she has become the #2 to Duffy in every way, but maybe she will use this to fuel her senior year and defeat her younger competitor.

M 3200m - to be 100% honest with you guys, I know most about AAA, a good amount about AA, and some about A. But it is quite obvious that the absolute favorite in this event is Eric Semling. He's good, and he knows that he's good. Should be #2 overall in the state for this event.

W 1600m - Audrey Brownell takes the shorter event over Margret Duffy. Most definitely the favorite going into this year, she won this even last year and was the only girl in A to break 5. Margret Duffy is #2 in this event, but if she focused more on the 1600m this year, she could upset Brownell.

M 1600m - This might be a interesting event this year, focus on the might... Although he "only" got third last year, Semling has already run a 4:14(!) mile on Liberty Universities banked track. His biggest limiting factor is his foot speed, if he leaves it too late at state Brady Rach could beat him with his superior foot speed.

W 800m - Audrey Brownell is technically the fastest returner, but she only ran it once during the regular season. Her PR of 2:15 came at Nike Outdoor Nationals. Next in line, and the defending state champion is MaKenzie Westphal. Doing the 1600m and 800m double at state, especially A or AA, is very, very hard. In my opinion. Westphal will defend her title this year.

M 800m - one of the fastest 800m runners in this state period is Tate Goergen. In my mind the only person who could be close to him is Brady Rach, but even then, Goergen has already run 1:53 indoors. Now, he did "peak" very early in the season last year, even than, I highly doubt anyone will be close.

That's that for preseason rankings! I know that there are a good amount of kids going to New Balance and Nike Indoor Nationals, mostly sprinters, but some distance as well. Besides that, we might have some TT but it won't be until April until we see where people actually are.

I would like to note one other observation.

Next year, there is a good chance that the fastest BOYS are all from A. I believe this is shift is mainly due to coaching. I know for a fact that both Semling trains by himself a lot, and many of this kids are the absolute stars on smaller teams. This allows for much more personalized coaching and focus on individuals.

Minnesota State has had some nice signings in the last few weeks. They’re really starting to turn their distance program around. The women have always been one of the best teams in the state, but the men haven’t had that same power. This is great to see!

Some notes from the USATF Minnesota Indoor State Meet Yesterday

Tyler Flippen 8:47 3K

Samuel Duetz 4:29 mile

Emery Wirth 4:32 mile

Tyler Flippen Could really be a threat come State outdoor 1600m with his impressive form early in the season. He ran 4:15 in the mile last year so there is a chance he could be somewhere around 4:08-4:10 and threaten Sean in the 1600m.

Do we know of any minnesotans running at New Balance or Nike indoor nationals?

No Erik, can you tell us if you're running indoor nationals?

I see the following for indoor nationals (800 & Longer):

Nike
- Hannah Boese, 2 Mile Emerging Elite, Spectrum/RunCCG
- Tyler Flippen, 1 Mile Championship, Andover

New Balance
- Ryder Mold, Freshman Mile, St. Francis/North Coast Running
- Sean Fries, Championship 5k, Minnetonka
- Isabel Mahoney, Championship 2 Mile, Monticello
- Carley LaMotte, Championship 800 + 1 Mile, Burnsville/Momentum TC
- Noelle Ross, Championship 800, Chaska/Momentum TC

Meant to say Noella* Ross

Instead of predicting winners, I'm going to give you some sleepers to watch in Class A. None of these names are on IceCold's Class A post as far as I can tell.

Boys
- Wyatt Betsinger, Pierz - 4:31 indoor mile last week, followed by a 2:06 800 on the same day. Hired a private coach at some point in the last year. Pretty solid results for this early in the season.
- Judah Allen, Litchfield - 4:38 indoor mile and 7th at state XC. His footspeed is a limiting factor but he'll do well in the 3200m. It seems like he was injured during last track season.
- Benaiah Matthew, Nova Classical - 10th at state XC. He was a freshman last year in track so his times (4:40/2:06) will improve significantly. Nova Classical has had plenty of good runners so I expect him to do very well.

Girls
- Isabel Pass, Nova Classical - 4th at state XC. She's struggled in track the last two years, but that state time is the real deal. If my math is right, she PRed in her two mile during state. Footspeed is her limiting factor.
- Kendra Swanson, Northwest Nighthawks - 7th at state XC. She's pretty solid from the 400-3200 and should do well at state in either the 1600 or 3200.
- Karissa Anderson, Border West - 9th at state XC. She's over-raced in track in my opinion, so she might not do well come state time, but there's clearly a lot of talent.
- Kahlen Suelflow, Sauk Centre - Doesn't have XC success of the other three (appears to have gotten sick or injured before sections), but she's run well at a couple indoor meets. Main issue is she's in a loaded 6A.

Wayzata time trials

www.wayzata-xc.com/2026%20Track/03_13%20-%20Trojan%20Time%20Trials.pdf

CSS Invitational in Duluth

https://live.herostiming.com/meets/61474