Most high school cross-country coaches have their kids' sights set on October's section meets and the state meet soon after. But, that doesn't mean they can't have any fun in the meantime.
Over the next two weeks many of the state's top runners will compete in some of the biggest regular-season races of the year.
On Saturday, many of the state's best teams will be at Stones Throw Golf Course for the Milaca Mega Meet. That same day on the south side of the metro area, Apple Valley hosts the Eagle Invitational.
A week later thousands will descend on the University of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course for the Roy Griak Invitational.
Shakopee coach Jason Sheeley has his boys running the Eagle and Griak races.
Shakopee, currently ranked ninth in Class 2A in the most recent coaches poll, has a good shot of winning the Apple Valley meet. Sheeley, in his 12th year with the team, is aiming for a top-20 finish at the Griak.
Last year both the Wayzata boys' and girls' teams won the Griak's top division, which included 50 teams.
"That's one where you see where you stand with some of the best teams around," Sheeley said. "That's pretty exciting."
Ephraim Bird, a senior who runs for Minnehaha Academy, will contend for the top spot in the Griak, which is named for the former Gophers' men's cross-country coach. Bird, who was all-state as a sophomore and finished seventh in last year's Class 1A state meet, took 17th at the Griak last fall.
"That's an important race," Bird said. "There's a lot of college coaches there to see you. Plus, you get to run against really good Class 2A runners. I'm pretty excited."
Bird, who grew up in Ethiopia and has only been running cross-country for three years, talked of the need to plan for the big crowd of runners at the Griak.
"I kind of got stuck in the middle last year," he said. "This year we want to get out ahead and get some breathing room early."
Tess Misgen, a sophomore at Shakopee, will run her fourth Eagle invite and third Griak. The defending state champion in the 1,600-meter run, Misgen is ranked sixth in the Class 2A coaches poll and should be among the leaders at both races. She was sixth in Apple Valley and finished 12th in the Griak last year.
Misgen, a three-time Class 2A state meet entrant who finished 10th in the state last season, said she likes the Griak because it's a 5-kilometer race for the girls instead of the usual 4 kilometers. Plus, she said, she gets to race against runners from other states.
"There's a lot of competition and runners from out of town," Misgen said. "Our team always wants to do well there. In that race there's a lot of diversity in styles of how people run races. You really have to strategize. The course is challenging, too. There's a lot of hills and turns."
Reed Kurak, a sophomore at Centennial, would like to be near the top finishers at the Milaca Mega Meet, which last year had four divisions and over 3,500 runners. Kurak, who is coming off a fourth-place finish at the Lakeville North Applejack Invite, said the Milaca meet is his favorite race.
"I like the atmosphere there," he said. "I like getting to run against different teams and race against runners from other schools I don't usually see."
Last year Kurak won the freshman race at Milaca and his Cougars placed first. This year he'll step up to the Class 4A varsity race, which perennial power Stillwater won last fall.
"I want to place well there to help the team, but I just really like running against good competition," Kurak said. "There's a few runners I look forward to racing against at Milaca."
The Edina girls' team will run in the Eagle and the Griak meets. The Hornets, ranked fifth in Class 2A, are the defending champions of the Apple Valley meet and placed sixth in the top division of the Griak a year ago.
Matthew Gabrielson, in his fourth year as the girls' coach, said his team "loves the Griak."
"It's almost as exciting as the state meet," Gabrielson said. "It's really cool. It's a really big race and there's lots of adrenaline at the starting line. The key is to manage that."
Though concentrating mainly on the section and state meets, Gabrielson said he'd like to see his team finish in the top three in the Eagle and the Griak.
"We care about the end result," he said. "We'd like to be on the podium. But, it's more about focusing on the process."
