On Saturday, Nov. 7, the HHS boy cross country team will compete in the state meet at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

The Royals, ranked first in the state, will go up against familiar competition, facing Washburn High School and Jaret Carpenter of Wayzata, who took first place at the Lake Conference meet in mid-October.

With a full strength squad of runners, the Royals are favored to earn a spot at regionals.

“We feel super good because we’ve been going way easier in practice lately, so we have a lot more energy and we will have more energy for the race. We are super excited to try and bring Hopkins its first [cross country] State Championship since 2002,” said Owen Hoeft, senior.

Hoeft in this season alone has helped his team win six races and alone has won two races; he also ran himself to an All Conference award earlier this season.

Running alongside Hoeft will be other All Conference runners, Seth Eliason, junior, Jack Henschel, Sam Branson, and Hunter Staack, seniors.