Couple of other observations and awards from state
1. Robert Mechura lost his shoe around the 2 mile mark and ran in his sock for the last mile on some pretty gravely terrain. You can see this quite clear in the Mounds View footage. Tough Dude Award to him.
2. Great job to Mounds View for always putting out great footage of races with some quality tunes! It is appreciated. Best Video Award goes to you guys.
3. We saw how important it is to have a quality 6th or 7th runner. Someone is always going to have an off day and it puts so much more pressure on the 5th runner, especially when things are not going well. Rosemount 5th had a tough day and that was too bad. Wayzata's Dietrick gets the fastest 5th guy award.
4. St. Olaf is not a spectator friendly course. Hard to move around and hard to see much of the race. No award for you.
5. 5000 + fans there. Not enough shuttles and not moving fast enough - most people just ignored the recommendation and walked from the parking lot. Again no award for parking/shuttles.
6. I think we are all excited to see Abbey N. get challenged in a race... might not be until December. She gets the too good to be challenged award
7. Noah Breker looked pretty good for 4.8km, then fell apart. Really hope he can recover as we all know what he is capable when he is healthy. I am going to give him the Shouldn't be racing but is award.
8. Ryan Fries from Minnetonka won the award for "most guys passing him in the last mile" - 62. Ouch - hope he his not injured and just lacking some fitness. Went out pretty hard, was 23rd after the mile and finished 103.
9. Wayzata had the 3rd fastest 1st runner, fastest 2nd, fastest 3rd, 2nd fastest 4th, fastest 5th, fastest 6th, and 3rd fastest 7th compared to all teams. State champions award for them.
10. Aiden Jones has been consistent all year and won the big one. "Most consistent runner of the year for him" as well as state champion.