OFFICIAL 2026 MSHSL TF (Indoor as well)

2AAA boys 1600: Fries, Stuwe, Nordstrom all qualify for state. Moyer misses it by .11

https://live.herostiming.com/meets/74278/events/individual/2785157

Ben Donaldson from Eden Prairie runs 4:33.69 as an 8th grader, I don't know but that has to be moving up there on the all time list.

Noella Ross from Chaska runs 2:08.40 with a 62.49 last lap.

2aaa 800m won in a 2:00 by Simeon Donaldson, he's been having a spotty season so far after a good indoor season.

Luke Bakken from Eastview drops 10 seconds off his 1600m PR running a 4:14 (59 last lap) to beat Channing Goodwin

Maple Grove has two girls go 2:11.

Aaron Peterson runs 1:51.98 putting him top 20 all time, great season for him so far. Hunter Jacobson finishes behind him in 1:53.36 continuing his own hot streak.

Great highlights in your post for the most part, although Donaldson did run a solo 1:54 flat in the prelims. I'd guess he was saving a bit for the 4x4 anchor. The 800 should be fantastic again this year, but with depth as the driver rather than the Risser show.

Eden Prairie boys won the 4x800 last year at state, and this year they didn’t qualify. They lost everyone except Donaldson, who didn’t run the 4x800 this year at sections

Ice Colds Website is incredible, it makes analyzing the sections results extremely easy, great site Ice Cold, well done!

With that said here is my analysis of the AAA results on the boys side.

Section 2AAA was easily the most difficult section to qualify in. With both Fries and Stuwe in the same section the only chance for other athletes to make state was to hit the qualifying time, and with the weather this past week that was not an east task. Congrats to Connor Heltemes with a 62 second final quarter to qualify in the 3200 and Casey Nordtrom with a gutty effort to qualify by .04 in the 1600.

It was clear the 3 best sections in the state were 2AAA, 3AAA, and 6AAA. The top 8 qualifying times in the state in the 1600 were from those 3 sections and the 7 top times in the 3200 were from those 3 sections also.

Some runners who look to be peaking at the right time are Channing Goodwin of Rosemount, Luke Bakken of Eastview, and Rocco Hawthorne of Edina. All 3 had very impressive results at Sections.

It also looks to be the year of the underclassmen. Fries, Stuwe and Tristan Lenton were the only Seniors to quality with a top 12 time in the 1600 and Fries, Stuwe, and Ayoub Farah the only Seniors in the top 9 of the 3200.

As far as predictions go, Fries will be a heavy favorite in both races at state. It's tough to see anyone running with him in the 3200 with Stuwe seeming to be the only one able to stay relatively close and possibly Goodwin. In the 1600 it should be a little closer, but without Flippen in the race Fries will still be the favorite. Stuwe has beaten Fries in the 1600 once this year, and Thomas Berndt has looked good over that distance, but still a tough task as I am sure Fries will be hungry to get the only distance title that has eluded him in his high school career.

Looking forward to state, hopefully the weather is favorable and the athletes put up some strong times!

I'd have to imagine Donaldson ran a nice tempo to secure the win, but kind of off odd a 2:00.50 made it to state out of section 2AAA. Not nearly as impressive as those boys down in 1AAA.

7 girls all from 1AAA 1600 made state, great race and great coaching giving their athlete hope they could qualify on time even if they are getting the 7th place ribbon

Here are prediction contest links by class!

AAA: https://forms.gle/YovfEZ4N77ALqQASA

AA: https://forms.gle/qUYQ37ZmbAcvx1NdA

A: https://forms.gle/qSGdQYuYGDX33wo57

Thank you for the downvote, I get it 2nd place in 2AAA 800 also qualified for state earlier in the day, but 2:00.50 should never qualify in AAA, weak section this year.

I completely agree, I remember looking at the start list and before prelims Donaldson was the only one sub 2. Historically a pretty good section, but I guess they all go through phases

Some predictions for AAA:

Girls 3200m - the LeMotte vs. Gullickson battle will be great in both the 32 and the 16, but in my opinion, Gullickson takes the 32 with LeMotte in second and Mackenzie Myran of STMA (only a 8th grader btw) taking third.

Boys 3200m - Sean is going to win unless something happens to him. Where is gets interesting if Stuwe tries to do what he did at XC state, sticking with the chase pack. If I remember correctly, he did that last year and got outkicked by Popplar, and there's a lot of guys behind stuwe.

Girls 4x800m - You can't see who's in relays yet, but I'm assuming most teams are keeping the same runners. Favorite is Minnetonka, they had a decisive win at their section and have a strong anchor in Malec. STMA and Moorhead are seeded 2nd and 3rd, but there 4 teams (including Wayzata) behind them all seeded at 9:21. Maple Grove also seems to be running their A team, which ran 9:13 to win Hamline earlier this year.

Boys 4x800m - This should be a very close race and a fun one to watch. After last years disappointments, both Wayzata and Eagan have good teams. In my opinion, Wayzata will take the win, mainly because Eagan is dependent on a super strong 3rd and 4th leg and their 3rd leg seems to be having a slow end to the season. I would also like to point out Woodbury who has been having a very impressive season this year.

Girls 1600m - a almost copy, paste of the 32, but I'll take LaMotte in this. The race for third is also much closer with Malherek-Osorio of Wayzata, Wegener of Blaine, and Gastony of Prior Lake all having gone sub 5 this year.

Boys 1600m - I was very sad to hear the news about Flippen, I would have loved to see a rematch of him vs. Sean. With him out, I have to put Sean as the clear favorite. The race for 2nd should be a close one, on paper you have sophomore Thomas Berdnt at 4:12 but he barely beat Lenton of Buffalo at their section meet. You also have Bakken of Eastview (10s PR at his section meet to run 4:14), Goodwin of Rosemount right behind him, and Stuwe.

Girls 800m - I had hopes of this being a very close race this year, I just think Ross is too good. I don't want to say Lansing or someone else couldn't beat her, but she ran within a half second of Lansing's PR with a 4s negative split. I would say Lansing, Golomb, and Malec could all get second, but Golomb and Malec are both in the 4x800m as of right now.

Boys 800m - Aaron Peterson is my pick for this race, and he deserves a win. After being 3rd his sophomore year and 4th last year, I think he will take a decisive victory this year. I think that if Donaldson gets his act together he should get second, his SB of 1:54 is less than a 0.5s off Jacobson's PR, and Donaldson ran his solo.

Could be an injury or something, but he had his first race of the season a few days ago. Not the greatest time, but he’ll have a whole summer to get himself back to where he was

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/669531/results/m/1/800m

https://results.wayzatatiming.com/meets/74652

Nice picks for AAA. Here are my thoughts:

Girls 3200m: Gullickson has won 3 straight but LaMotte has the speed along with impressive solo efforts this season. Gullickson hasn't been as dominant as last year in the 3200m...and I'm not sure how she will run it. Probably try and go from the gun? Keep pushing pace in the middle to try and drop field there? Hard to pick against MG but the more I play the race out, I feel like LaMotte sticks with Maddie the whole time and wins at the line.

Boys 3200m: Fries show. More of the question of how fast he'll go. Much more interested in race for 2nd. Stuwe the favorite, but Meberg, McVay, Goodwin, and others in mix. Assuming Fries takes it out hard, I'm sure that 2nd pack will be tight and we just see who can hold on.

Boys 4x800m: This one is fun. Wayzata needs this one after getting 2nd last year here and XC. They are the deepest team so they likely have lead through 3rd leg but couple other teams have stronger anchors. Eagan and Woodbury went 1-2 at Hamline in 7:54-7:55 with seemingly same lineups with Wilske splitting 1:53. MV is deep like Wayzata and thinking Miller joins squad instead of McVean? Other teams to be in it are Moorhead who are surprisingly deep and Blaine who have a tough anchor in Zellmer.

Girls 1600m: Like previous poster said, LaMotte is probably favorite over Gullickson but should be another good one. At state last year, Gullickson led start to finish pulling away from LaMotte on final lap but then at Hamline this year, Gullickson led first 3 laps before LaMotte passed her to win. Does MG lead again and trust her own kick? Maybe throw a wretch in it and not lead? MG does have underrated speed and a faster PR than LaMotte does. I'll go opposite what chalk is and take LaMotte upsetting her in 3200m but MG comes back with vengence and win the 1600m.

Boys 1600m: No Flippen means Fries is clear favorite. Stuwe has beat him this year, but I doubt it happens again. Someone in the next group will emerge and the smart bet is Berndt. I'm sure Fries will just lead from gun and hope to drop everyone.

Girls 800m: Still can't believe that it took 2:11.4 to make finals last year. Also crazy how Lansing went 2:08 at Hamline and isn't even considered a real threat to win given Ross' dominance. Plus Malec has looked strong recently and others. Can't pick against Ross but maybe Lansing just hangs on all race and can pull away at the end.

Boys 800m: Would be shocked if not Peterson. He didn't run as well as expected in last year's final though.

Lot more girls analysis here than guys but really think those are the most interesting races this year.

Blake Knutson quit running, competitively at least. Great potential but it seemed like he was disappointed in always being hurt, I though there was a chance he did XC next fall but I heard rumors that he switched to Lacrosse or Hockey.

I don't want to always refer back to the icecoldxc website, but I did post some event previews there across the classes.

I will try to post some more AA/A thoughts here too in the next day or two.

icecoldxc.com

2026 MN State Track Distance Previews

icecoldxc

We picked some of the most intriguing distance races of the weekends and gave a short run-down for storylines to follow. Enjoy!

Open link

Last Chance results from June 2

https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/meet/669635/results

I wonder if there is any chance Berndt gets thrown on the 4x8 team, he ran a strong leg for them at conference.