Senior looks to help Bruins become fourth girls program outside Minnesota to win multiple gold division titles after 2019 victory, with Nechanicky seeking individual crown; Breker, Scott, Heidesch, Blomker and Gilles headline deep boys field, as best in Iowa collides with hometown heroes

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Addison Price remains the lone link to the last trip the Cherry Creek girls cross country team took to Minnesota for the Roy Griak Invitational.

And the senior leader is also the only connection on the Bruins’ roster to one of the most impressive performances in meet history.

Cherry Creek placed five scorers in the top 40 in the 2019 Gary Wilson girls gold race, including a victory from then sophomore Riley Stewart – now a freshman at Stanford – and an 11th-place effort from Price, producing a 75-165 victory over Naperville North High of Illinois.

Price is ready to lead Cherry Creek to another triumph in one of the elite invitational races of the fall season Friday at Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, with the Bruins looking to join Naperville North, Sioux Falls Roosevelt of South Dakota and Dowling Catholic of Iowa as the only out-of-state programs to win multiple Roy Griak gold titles.

“I am really excited and grateful for the opportunity,” Price said. “I am really happy to be able to come back and race the course again. It is such a fun and different meet than those in Colorado. My team and I are really looking forward to coming to race and seeing how it plays out.”

Olathe West of Kansas, last year’s gold race champion, is also part of the field scheduled to compete at 3:45 p.m. CDT, as well as 2017 winner Naperville North and 2018 champion Yorkville of Illinois.

Wayzata of Minnesota, which last secured a gold title at Roy Griak in 2013, is also scheduled to participate, led by senior standout Abbey Nechanicky, the only returning competitor from the 2019 race who finished higher than Price by placing fourth overall.

St. Paul Highland Park and Hopkins of Minnesota are also entered, along with Johnston, West Des Moines Valley and Ballard Community of Iowa, Olathe North of Kansas, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Sioux Falls Lincoln of South Dakota, as well as Batavia from Illinois.

“It’s really a great opportunity to come and race different teams,” Price said. “Colorado has so much depth, but we are excited to race new teams and see what happens. Griak has such a fun atmosphere and it’s going to be really fun to see and race new people.”

Nechanicky leads a strong lineup of individual contenders, looking to follow Ali Weimer of St. Michael-Albertville as a Minnesota star securing the title after Stewart earned the 2019 victory.

Anjali Hocker Singh, a junior at Olathe North, is the top returning competitor from last season with a fourth-place finish.

Ali Bainbridge of Sioux Falls Lincoln, Addison Dorenkamp of West Des Moines Valley and Olivia Verde of Johnston all placed in the top 10 in the gold race last year and are scheduled to compete Friday.

Sydney Drevlow of Hopkins is also expected to race, as well as Paityn Noe of Ballard Community and Luna Scorzelli of St. Paul Highland Park.

In addition to Price, the Bruins will rely on freshman Emily Cohen, along with senior Alice Hamm and a pair of siblings in Kinley Wolfe and Baylor Wolfe, as well as Catalina Aguilar-Rosenthal and Paloma Aguilar-Rosenthal, to follow their Liberty Bell sweepstakes victory Sept. 10 at Heritage High.

Despite graduating Shelby Balding, Addison Laughlin, Claire Semerod and Stewart from its lineup last year, Cherry Creek is seeking victory at a prestigious meet outside Colorado for the fourth straight season, including Nike Portland XC in Oregon last fall and the XC Town USA Meet of Champions, Presented by The Garrett Companies, in Indiana in 2020.

“We have been preparing for this meet but doing lots of grass intervals and grass work,” Price said. “The biggest piece of advice that I would have for my team is to really focus on the start and the finish because getting out quickly is key to starting off the race. It’s also exciting to run at lower elevations to switch up racing a bit.”

The Larry Zirgibel boys gold race at 3 p.m. CDT features the return of the top three competitors from last year’s race in Sam Scott of Minneapolis Southwest, Micah Blomker from Shawnee Mission North in Kansas and Nick Gilles of Minnetonka.

And none of them might be considered the favorite after Noah Breker of Robbinsdale Armstrong became only the fourth male athlete in Minnesota prep history to produce a sub-15 performance on a 5-kilometer course when he clocked 14:57.2 on Sept. 8 at the Hopkins Bauman/Rovn Invitational.

Alden Keller of Breck School in Minnesota and Natneal Kifle of returning gold team champion Sioux City North also placed in the top 10 last year. Sioux City North also brings back Gabe Nash, who placed 17th last season.

Jackson Heidesch of Dowling Catholic and Ford Washburn of Iowa City High in Iowa, Andrew Casey of Lakeville North in Minnesota, Aiden Johnson of West Fargo Sheyenne in North Dakota, Manny Putz of Onalaska in Wisconsin, Daniel Hruska of Cherry Creek and Clay Shively of Wichita Trinity Academy in Kansas are also elite competitors expected to compete.

Jake Leingang of Bismarck High in North Dakota was the last repeat winner of the boys gold race in 2011-12.

Sioux City North is trying to become the first back-to-back boys gold champions since Wayzata in 2013-14.

Minnetonka, Lakeville North and Wayzata, the top three programs in Minnesota, are entered in the gold race, in addition to the top three teams in Iowa in Dowling Catholic, Norwalk Community and Iowa City High.

Charlie Power-Thiesen of St. Paul Como Park returns as the Lefty Wright boys maroon race winner from last season, looking to become the first male athlete to win in consecutive years since former Cougars’ standout Innocent Murwanashyaka in 2015-16.

Bismarck High of North Dakota is not scheduled to participate at Roy Griak this year, creating the opportunity for a new winner to emerge in the boys maroon competition.

Mounds View of Minnesota has moved up to the girls gold race after winning the maroon section last year.

In the morning college competition, Minnesota will attempt to defend its title in the Jack Johnson women’s gold race at 11:15 a.m. CDT against a field that includes ranked programs Wisconsin, Colorado State, Utah, Michigan State, Ohio State, Iowa State and Cal Baptist.

Iowa State last won in 2012, Michigan State last triumphed in 2014 and Cal Baptist prevailed in 2019.

Anastasia Korzenowski, who placed 10th last year in the 6-kilometer race for the host Golden Gophers, is the top returning competitor from last year. Tierney Wolfgram of Nevada, Addie Engel of Ohio State, Samantha Stieve of Wisconsin, Kaitlyn Hynes of Michigan State, Emily Venters of Utah, Lily Tomasula-Martin of Colorado State, Greta Karinauskaite and Yasna Petrova of Cal Baptist and Iowa State teammates Dana Feyen and Madelynn Hill are all potential contenders.

With Brigham Young, last year’s winner of the Merrill Fischbein men’s gold race, not returning to Roy Griak this season, Colorado State is the most recent winner in the field from 2017.

Joining the Rams will be ranked entries Wisconsin and Michigan State, in addition to Cal Baptist.

Matthew Wilkinson, competing unattached for Minnesota, is the top returning athlete in the 8-kilometer field after placing 20th last year.

Abdifetah Ahmed of Michigan State, who was 22nd last year, is the top attached men’s returning competitor. Aden Smith, who took 34th last season, also returns for the Spartans.

Bob Liking, the reigning Big Ten champion from Wisconsin, is expected to compete, along with teammates Evan Bishop, Shuaib Aljabaly, Jackson Sharp and Rowen Ellenberg.

Mason Brown and Brock Dykema lead Colorado State, with reigning Western Athletic Conference champion Florian Le Pallec, Said Mechaal and Giedrius Valincius expected to be in contention for Cal Baptist.

University of Mary returns as the champion of last year’s Suzy Wilson maroon women’s race, with reigning individual winner Lindsay Cunningham of Winona State also scheduled to compete.

Clayton Sayen of Michigan Tech, who triumphed in the Jo Rider men’s maroon race last year, is also expected to participate.