The Willmar Cardinal boys are back to defend their back-to-back Class AA titles. But this time they aren't the favorite.
Paynesville junior Linda Keller, however, goes in as No. 1 in girls Class A. She finished third a year ago and the 1-2 place finishers are gone for this season's meet.
That includes Nikki Swenson, last year's Class A champion. For the first time since 2002, there's no Nikki, a two-time champion and two-time runner-up, to carry the flag for Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd. But she will have two siblings in Saturday's races.
The Lac qui Parle Valley/Dawson-Boyd girls, the Redwood Valley boys and the Paynesville girls will join Willmar in Saturday's meet.
In addition, there are four individual qualifiers in Class A girls and seven boys from the area who qualified through Class A section races.
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The meet starts with the Class AA girls at 10 a.m. on the campus of St. Olaf College in Northfield. Class AA boys follow at 11 a.m.
At 1 p.m., the Class A girls race goes off followed by the boys at 2 p.m.
The girls run 4,000 meters and the boys 5,000.
Each race will have about 150 entrants.
Class AA boys
Willmar is a long shot this year after being the top dog in the polls coming into the meet the last two years. The Cardinals were ranked fifth in the final coach's poll, one spot in front of Brainerd, which shaded Willmar by three points for the Central Lakes Conference title Oct. 17.
Wayzata, ranked No. 1, didn't appear in last year's meet. No. 2 Rosemount was runner-up to Willmar by 75 points in 2006. Stillwater and Eden Prairie also are ranked ahead of Willmar.
Two runners return from Willmar's championship team: junior Mahad Hassan finished 14th overall and Andrew Nicklawsky was 50th. But Nicklawsky has been a top-six runner this season and sophomores Mohamed Hussein and Abshir Ahmed have displayed top-10 form. David Anderson is the No. 5 runner followed by two other seniors, Zach Coquyt and Ryan Larsen.
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No. 1-ranked individual, Rob Finnerty of Burnsville, finished fourth last year in a top 10 dominated by seniors, including Willmar's Kaafi Adeys (fifth) and Abdi Awale (seventh).
Hassan has ranked among the top five individuals all fall and is No. 2 in the final poll.
Class A boys
Ryan Swenson, a freshman at Dawson-Boyd, won the Section 6A individual title and is ranked 12th in Class A.
Although Redwood Valley lost its top two runners, Justin Peters and Anthony Bongard to graduation, the Cardinals got back led by junior Nate Thooft. Senior Travis McDougal, who ran No. 2 on the team at the Section 3A meet, is also out for the first time.
Perham, ranked No. 1, is favored to repeat in the boys race.
Owen Hein and Darrin Reuss qualified individually after running with the Montevideo team in 2006.
New London-Spicer also advanced two runners out of Section 6A -- junior Brenden Ruter (fifth place) and senior Jordan Radel (ninth).
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Class A girls
Kelly Swenson leads a young team in a return trip to Northfield, but some of them already have state meet experience. Last year, Whitney Hermanson and Kate Seivert ran as eighth-graders and Tera Walker as a seventh-grader at the state meet.
Keller's Paynesville team, the Section 6A champion, is a little older with veteran runner Kaitlyn Frenchick now a senior. First-year runners Brittany Hemmesch and Andrea Schlangen run in the Bulldogs' top four each race.
Two-time defending champion Adrian goes into the meet ranked No. 1.
Keller will likely face a challenge from Naomi Landecker. The Staples-Motley runner is ranked No. 2 in the state and was right on Keller's heels at the conclusion of the 2006 race.
Redwood Valley's Gabi Swoboda, just a freshman, surprised the Section 3A field with her first-place finish, five seconds in front of Morgan Lynn of Adrian.
Minnewaska Area sends freshman Maren Greenwaldt (40th last year) and eighth-grader Halle Christianson, the runner-up to Keller at the section meet.
New London-Spicer eighth-grader Spencer Erickson also made it to state after taking third in the Section 6A meet.
