21st Annual Roy Griak Invitational (13th Annual for High School) Saturday, September 23, 2006 - U. of Minnesota Les Bolstad Golf Course, St. Paul MN DyeStat on-site with Steve Underwood

Meet's Own Site Schedule Gold Boys Results Gold Girls Results Maroon Boys Results Maroon Girls Results

Willmar MN boys, Sioux Falls Roosevelt SD girls Hassan Mead - Allison Eckert Stories by SteveU - Boys - Girls The newcomer and the veteran: Minneapolis South MN star Hassan Mead wins Griak Gold in his first try; Allison Eckert of Sioux Falls Roosevelt SD leads her team to victory and gives the Eckert twins three wins in four years here. Photos by Cheryl Treworgy/prettysporty.com Boys Gold - Heartland #1 US#5 Willmar MN was a bit off their game, but beat HL#7 Rosemount MN 209-233. Individual winner was Hassan Mead of Minneapolis South 15:49, seven seconds ahead of Dakota Ridge CO soph Evan Appel 15:56. Girls Gold - Heartland #2 US#4 Roosevelt Sioux Falls SD was led by individual winner Allison Eckert 18:17 in a close call over Heartland #4 Iowa City IA, 151-161. Nebraska freshman sensation Emily Sisson 18:26 was second. Stories and more pix coming! Preview Maroon Champions: Brandon Valley MN jr Greg Beesley and Osceola WI soph Brea Tinney . Photos by Cheryl Treworgy/prettysporty.com

Race Previews
By Bill Miles, Wayzata High School, for the University of Minnesota

Girls

Cross country fans might ask themselves how could the 13th edition of the Roy Griak Girls High School Invitational possibly compare to last year’s race. The individual race included numerous high school All-Americans, many of whom are now running for Division I powers around the country and the team race showcased two Nike Team National finalists.  Yet the 2006 Gold and Maroon Races look just as exciting and perhaps even more talented. 

Gold Race
The Lakeville North girls, runner-ups in 2005 in the Griak, Minnesota State Champions, and Nike Team National finalists, may have graduated Elizabeth Yetzer to the Minnesota Gophers, but they haven’t missed a step.  They are rated No. 1 in Minnesota, No. 5 in the NTN Heartland (prior to this week), and winners of three invites this fall. They are led by returning All-State sophomores Michelle Volz and Solange Miller. 

Minnetonka returns their entire squad from last year’s fifth place team finisher and won the St. Olaf Showcase last week with a balanced attack.  Marshall, led by junior Brooke Wyffels, has won its first three invitationals easily and returns six of seven from last year’s eighth place Griak squad.  Hopkins took fourth in the Roughrider Invitational last week behind the solid frontrunning of Emily Schwitzer and Angie Henry. 

Other AA ranked teams from Minnesota competing are Eastview with highly rated McKenzie Melander, Waseca who narrowly missed getting past Minnetonka at St. Olaf last week, and Dover-Eyota-St. Charles who almost caught Eastview last week at the Mayo Invite. 

Class A powers Perham, Blake, Staples-Motley, and Rochester Lourdes are also part of the mix in this meet.  A balanced Perham, their 4x800 relay team were state champions in track, took third at St. Olaf on Saturday edging Blake who had three low scorers in Claire Richardson, Katherine Chute, and Margaret Chute.  Staples-Motley is led by Naomi Landecker and Rochester Lourdes relies on strong pack running.

The highest nationally ranked team, at second in the Heartland, in this year’s Griak is Sioux Falls Roosevelt.  Roosevelt, led by twins Allison and Krista Eckert, was second in South Dakota last year and third in the Griak.  They return their top four and look even deeper in 2006.  Equally intimidating is Iowa City High, third in the Heartland, who crushed the field, including an NTN finalist Naperville North, with a 30 second spread in the Cedar Rapids Invitational.  Ranked second behind Iowa City High in Iowa is Johnston.  They won the Luther All-American Meet with a one-to-five spread of 18 seconds. 

Last year’s Griak champion, Rocky Mountain of Colorado, only loses two runners to graduation and is rated 10th in the Rocky Mountain rankings.  Snohomish, rated third in Washington’s Preseason poll, used team depth to win the Bellarmine and South Whidbey Invites.  There are two rated teams from Wisconsin running in the Gold Race, Hudson is 13th in Wisconsin’s Division 1 and Kimberly is 11th in Division 1.  Tipton is rated second in Iowa’s 2A and Muscatine is rated 15th in Iowa 4A.

University City High of San Diego’s girls are rated ninth in California’s Division 2 and Dakota Ridge’s girls of Littleton, Colorado are 17th in the Rocky Mountain Region.  Bismarck was runner-up in North Dakota’s state in 2005 and returns Taylor Pintar who finished 6th.  Sioux Falls O’Gorman was fourth at Griak and third in South Dakota and returns six of their varsity as does Brandon Valley the fifth place state finisher in South Dakota.  Centerville is coming east from Ohio with five returnees from their 2005 squad that competed in their state meet last year.

Individually the top five returnees are Ellie Rastall of Rocky Mountain High School, Krista Eckert of Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Brooke Wyffels of Marshall, Paige Orcutt of Sioux Falls O’Gorman, and Claire Richardson of Blake.  They will be joined by Emily Sisson, a 9th grader from Omaha Marion, who has won two major invites including a victory over Betsy Bies of Yankton; and Kristen McGlynn of Platte Canyon High School, the Colorado 3A Champion last fall and Leadville Invitational champion this year. (Editors note: SFR’s Allison Eckert was coming off injury from a car accident last year at Griak, but went on to become a Foot Locker Finalist, then run 10:19 for 3200 in the spring.  She is a very strong individual title contender).

Maroon Race
The defending champion Waseca moved into the Gold Race and opens the door for the team championship to a multitude of hopefuls.  The top returning team is Chaska with four of their top five returning from a state meet qualifier in 2005.  Becker returns all seven from its Minnesota 10th place finisher.  There are two Wisconsin Division 2 rated squads in the Maroon Race.  Wisconsin Lutheran is rated at 5th and Shorewood at eighth.  Cedar Rapids Kennedy is rated 14th in the Iowa ratings.  Minneapolis Southwest is the five-time defending city champion.

Last year’s Maroon Individual champion was Brea Tinney of Osceola, Wisconsin who will return as a sophomore this year.  Tara McCoy of Menomonie was 5th a year ago and has gotten off to a strong start this fall.  Both of those returning runners could be challenged by Holly Reiland of Spring Lake Park/Saint Anthony who is rated 12th individually by Minnesota’s coaches.

Boys

This afternoon 99 high schools will send their boys’ teams to compete in two races in the 13th Annual Roy Griak High School Cross Country Invitational.  The Griak has grown into one of the premier meets on the National High School scene and the preeminent meet in the Midwest.  Eleven states are represented and four 2005 state championship squads are entered, but that only hints at the quality to be found on the Les Bolstad course today. 

Gold Race
The Gold Race will bring together the top teams from Minnesota.  Willmar, the defending Minnesota AA State Champion, is rated 8th in the United States by Harrier magazine and 1st in the Heartland by the Nike Team Nationals Panel. The Cardinals, who return their top four from last year’s state squad including Kaafi Adeyes and Abdi Awale, are making their first appearance in the Griak.  They have yet to be challenged this year in winning three invites with scores of 21, 23, and 15 points. 

Rosemount, fifth in the 2005 Griak returns six runners and is coming off a strong track season, has won two invites this fall.  The Irish, coached by former Gopher star Chris Harder, are led by junior Jordan Carlson.  Wayzata won both the Marshfield Columbus and the St. Olaf Showcase meets with a tight pack of seven finishing within forty seconds of each other.  Rosemount and Wayzata are joined in the Gold Race as representatives from the very tough Section 6AA by Edina, Hopkins and Burnsville.  Edina has an exceptional one-two punch in TC Lumbar and Tom Burke who both ran sub-9:15 in the 3200 last spring, while Hopkins relies on a balanced attack led by senior Zach McGill.

Burnsville, winner of the Nokomis Invite, is led by Rob Finnerty, a 9:07 two miler.  Two other ranked AA squads are Mounds View and Robbinsdale Armstrong.   Duluth East has failed to gather attention statewide, but has won four invites.

Minnesota Class A powerhouses are represented in the Gold Race. Perham returns six from the fourth place team in the 2005 State and is rated first in their class.  Rochester Lourdes, runner-ups in the 2005 State Meet, has replaced graduated standout Mike Torchia with a balanced attack, while Minnehaha Academy, a rising power, is led by Will Haffield.

As talented as Minnesota’s best are, they are in for a real challenge from out of state teams.  Bismarck, North Dakota, ranked No. 1 in their state and fourth in the Heartland and the defending North Dakota champion, will be running without one of their top athletes, but still have six under 16:45.  Shorewood, Wisconsin’s three time defending D2 State Champions, are ranked No. 1 again and are led by the top D2 returnee, Dennis Walsh, and a 16:23 freshman, Kevin McCollow.  Joining Shorewood from Wisconsin are three ranked D1 schools, West Bend West is sixth, Kimberly seventh, and a rapidly improving Marquette 15th, and Monroe is  ranked third in D2 and Aquinas is sixth in D3.  Kimberly returns two top seven finishers from last year’s D1 State Meet, seniors Tyler Morey and Kevin Romenesko; while Monroe has Patrick Klein with four consecutive wins.

A third defending champion, Shawnee Mission Northwest, has won twelve straight Kansas titles under legendary coach, Van Rose.  Hard hit by graduation the Cougars do return Josh Weems and Michael Hauber from last year’s Griak runner-up squad and are ranked first again in Kansas 6A.  Iowa sends a strong contingent of teams to the meet.  Des Moines Roosevelt  is rated third in Iowa 4A and returns its top ten from last year’s squad.  Ankeny, led by Kit Powell who was third in the Maroon Race last year, is going for a 12th consecutive top 6 finish in the Iowa State Meet.  Wahlert is rated third in Iowa 3A, while Tipton is No. 4 in Iowa 2A.

A team having a good fall is Dakota Ridge from Littleton, Colorado.  The Eagles, fifth in their state in 2005 and coming off a very strong race at the Liberty Bell Invitational, are ranked in the NTN Southwest Regional.  They are led Evan Appel, a sophomore, took second at the Liberty Bell.  Another Colorado team Chapparal, return five of seven from the 14th place squad in state last year and are led by All-State performer Stephen Busch.  Coming from the west are Washington’s Snohomish and California’s University City High of San Diego.  University returns four the fourth place team at Griak in 2005.

Additional individuals expected to compete for top honors in the Gold Race are Andrew Perkins of Watertown, the Wisconsin D1 Champion last year; Hassan Mead of Minneapolis South who has won the Nokomis, Faribault, and Metro Invites; Sean Olson of Menomonie and Justin Tyner of Brainerd, 11th and 12th  last year and both undefeated in 2006, and Anthony Oberle of Bishop Heelan High in Iowa.

Maroon Race
Hudson, Wisconsin returns a strong squad as it defends its 2005 Maroon Team Title.  They won the Menomonie Relays and are currently ranked in Wisconsin.  Other contenders are Iowa’s ninth rated Muscatine squad that returns its top four from last year’s fourth place finisher in the Maroon Race, last year’s runner-up Minnetonka who return two top thirty finishers from the 2005 Maroon race, and traditional Wisconsin D2 power Wisconsin Lutheran. 

The individual race should be very tough with Tyler King of Lakeville North, 13th in the 2005 Gold Race; Brandon Fick of Muscatine, the top returnee at 6th from the Maroon race; and Greg Beesley of Brandon Valley, a three time All-State runner from South Dakota.

Schedule

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