Minnesota
Seventh-grader Grace Ping of Winona-Cotter has emerged as one of the best runners in not only the state of the Minnesota, but the entire nation. Can she win her first state title this weekend? (Photo by Roger Brandel)
Northfield, MN | 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Central | Minnesota MileSplit coverage
Notable individuals: No. 13 Grace Ping, No. 20 Jaret Carpenter, Bethany Hasz, Megan Hasz
Notable teams: No. 8 Hopkins boys, No. 19 Minneapolis Washburn boys, No. 20 Edina girls, No. 21 Willmar girls
This fall marks the first school year that Minnesota school girls contest a 5K race as the standard cross country distance instead of 4K. That means that Saturday will yield a new state meet course record by default, but - by who? Alexandria Jefferson senior twins Megan and Bethany Hasz ran to 1-2 finishes with the top two fastest times in the state in both 2013 and 2014. Bethany is a three-time NXN qualifier and Megan a two-time qualifier to the national championship. But seventh-grader Grace Ping of Winona-Cotter has emerged as the state's most promising harrier this fall after taking down Judy Pendergast, a 16:05 three-miler, at the Roy Griak Invitational. Unfortunately, the twins and the No. 13 nationally ranked Ping race in different classifications, so we won't see a showdown but eyes will still be on the clock to see who runs the fastest time of the day.
Jaret Carpenter survived the Section of Death, but his Wayzata team - qualifiers to the 2014 NXN - did not. Hopkins enters the state meet ranked No. 8 nationally, though it will be interesting to see what kind of challenge No. 19 Minneapolis-Washburn will pose in their first state meet appearance in school history.