With five ranked teams on the Saucony Flo50 and the nation's No. 2 ranked individual boy, the Roy Griak Invitational this weekend in Minnesota is going to be lit!

Last year, we saw unheralded 7th-grader Grace Ping take down cross country All-American Judy Pendergast, who would go on to break the Detweiller Park course record in Illinois. What will happen this year? You'll have to tune in to find out!

High School Boys Gold

Saucony Flo50 Ranked Teams: No. 9 Wayzata (MN), No. 18 Claremont (CA), No. 20 Edina (MN)
Saucony Flo50 Ranked Individuals: No. 2 Seth Hirsch
Challengers: Hopkins (MN), Dowling Catholic (IA), Minneapolis Washburn (MN)
Start Time: 2:25 p.m. CT

Seth Hirsch's fourth-place finish at the 2015 Roy Griak Invitational helped him build toward dual ninth-place finishes at Nike Cross and Foot Locker Nationals. The senior from Millard West High School in Nebraska is now the No. 2-ranked runner in the nation; he won his first two races this season by margins of 70 seconds and 57 seconds. Now that 2015 event champion Garek Bielaczyc has graduated, there's not much that stands between Hirsch and his first major invitational win. 

The Gold race features the first team battle between Minnesota's top two boys teams: Wayzata and Edina, which stand No. 9 and No. 20 in the national rankings. Wayzata lost star Jaret Carpenter (runner-up here last year) but return four of their varsity seven from the squad that placed 14th at NXN last year. They've won their first two meets with an impressive 38-second spread at the Columbus Catholic Invitational and an 18-second spread at the Metro Invitational.

Edina, which placed 13th at NXN in 2015, won the Spartan Invitational in early September and took a narrow one-point loss to No. 19 St. Thomas Aquinas at the Heartland Classic last weekend in Iowa.

But the state of Minnesota is so competitive that NXN qualifiers Wayzata (runners-up at the big show in 2014) and Edina didn't even make the state meet last year. So these nationally ranked squads will get a serious test from Hopkins and Minneapolis Washburn, who went 1-2 at the 2015 Minnesota state cross country championship.

Hopkins went on to win the NXN Heartland regional and place seventh at NXN in 2015. They return just two varsity runners from the squad. Washburn returns their No. 4, No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 men.

Could a California squad crash the Midwest party? No. 18-ranked Claremont most recently won the Cool Breeze Evening Invitational over Brea Olinda with a 26-second spread. They skipped last weekend's high-profile Woodbridge XC Classic, so they'll be fresh to travel and race here.

Another team to watch is defending Iowa state champion Dowling Catholic, which placed fifth at the NXN Heartland regional last year and returns four varsity runners.

Watch the 2015 Boys Gold Race at the Roy Griak Invite:

High School Girls Gold

Saucony Flo50 Ranked Teams: No. 8 Edina (MN), No. 25 Claremont (CA)
Challengers: Marshall (MN), Minnetonka (MN), Mountain View (ID), Naperville North (IL), Cami Davre, Anna Fenske, Emily Covert, Claire Boersma, Sophie Whicher, Lexy Halladay, Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn, Karly Ackley
Start Time: 3:15 p.m. CT

The No. 8-ranked Edina girls have the most experience and the best credentials in the field. The Hornets return all seven varsity runners from 2015, a year that saw them win the Minnesota state cross country championship, take second at NXN Heartland and 16th at NXN. Their strength is pack running -- they won the Faribault Invitational with a 32-second spread and the Spartan Invitational with a 31-second spread. Any one of their top five could win the individual title as well.

They'll be challenged by Claremont High School from California, which is currently ranked No. 25 in the Saucony Flo50. A close finish would bump them up significantly. The Wolfpack most recently defeated No. 6-ranked Arcadia at the Cool Breeze Evening Invitational. The Apaches were missing two of their projected top five, but Claremont still impressed with a 52-second spread and 17:50 average over three miles led by Annie Boos (17:16.95). It will be interesting to note how Claremont's super-fast California times translate on Griak's rolling hills.

Grace Ping and her family moved to Utah so we sadly won't see the return of the middle school star, who enjoyed a breakout win here last year over All-American Judy Pendergast. But the individual battle could see another young runner crowned champion. Mountain View freshman Lexy Halladay has been tearing up the competition in Idaho, and 8th-grader Anna Fenske has done the same in Minnesota.

Halladay defeated the defending state cross country champion Rachel Morrin by 42 seconds to win the Tiger Grizz Invitational two weeks ago. She's got the track credentials, too, as she ran 4:46 for 1600m and 2:14 for 800m as an 8th-grader.

Halladay's Mountain View team also looks capable of pulling an upset here. They won Tiger Grizz with just 22 points in the 13-team field. Halladay is a low-stick outlier, but the No. 2 through No. 5 girls finished within 34 seconds of each other.

Fenske, an 8th-grader competing for Farmington High School, looks to have improved from last year when she placed eighth at the NXN Heartland regional. She won her first two races in times that were 30 and 40 seconds faster than last year. 

North Dakota's Karly Ackley and Mattie Shirley-Fairbairn will be in the mix, too, and are likely NXN qualifiers: they placed 11th and seventh in the Heartland region last fall. Sophie Whicher of Minnetonka owns the fastest 5K time in Minnesota with her 17:38.28, which she ran to finish runner-up to Ackley at the Nike Heartland Pre-Regional. 

Cami Davre was runner-up at the 2015 Wisconsin state cross country championship behind Foot Locker finalist Aubrey Roberts. She's more of a track runner (2:09 800m/4:48 mile PBs) but has captured wins in her first two races this fall.

Watch the 2015 Girls Gold Race at the Roy Griak Invite:


Catch these high school showdowns LIVE on FloTrack, starting with the boy's race Saturday at 2:25 p.m. CT and the girls race at 3:15 p.m. CT.