Class AA rounds the 1st turn and it’s a horse race

More than any of the other 3 classes, Class AA has stubbornly refused to go according to Hoyle or to clarify itself heading into the 2nd one-third of the season. Three sections now have a different favorite than they did a month ago, while a full dozen teams have moved way up or way down in the rankings. We’ll look at them a section at a time.

Section 1AA

We knew this was shaping up as a battle royal, but now Stewartville (9-2, #11AA) has unexpectedly moved to the front of the pack with wins over Rochester Lourdes, Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Byron. Lourdes, the pre-season pick, opened at 2-5, but now they’ve won 5 in a row, including over AAAA Anoka in the Rochester holiday tournament, so they’ll still be a factor. Caledonia, ZM and Winona Cotter also look like contenders in a loaded section.

Section 2AA

Norwood Young America (7-2) remains the favorite, but dropped from #5AA to #10AA with losses to St. Peter and Watertown-Mayer the week before Christmas. Glencoe-Silver Lake and St. Pete have dropped out of the top 25, but will be the main challengers to NYA, but don’t count upstarts Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop, Maple River and Martin County West.

Section 3AA

New London-Spicer (7-3) remains the favorite while Eden Valley-Watkins (8-1) remains the top challenger. EVW’s only loss came to NLS.

Section 4AA

Minnehaha remains the prohibitive favorite despite a 6-4 start. Concordia (8-3) has emerged as the main challenger.

Section 5AA

Maranatha, newly removed from Class A to Class AA, was #6AA in the pre-season and they’re #6AA today. But, they’ve dropped from #1 to #2 in Section 5AA, as Holy Family has gotten off to a blistering 10-2 start with wins over Watertown-Mayer, Annandale and Stewartville. The Fire has lost only to #2AA Rush City and #1AAA Cooper. Well, yes, there was also a loss to #9AAA DeLaSalle, but that later became a forfeit win.

Watertown-Mayer (8-2, #8AA) has also played very well, but lost to Holy Family in December.

Section 6AA

Tougher than everybody other than Section 1AA, Section 6AA boasts our #1AA and #2AA teams plus 4 more in the top 25. Sauk Centre (10-0) defeated Rush City (7-0) by 2 in last year’s section final, and another such matchup is eagerly anticipated. Pine City, St. Cloud Cathedral, Albany and Royalton are also ranked, but are not expected to be at Sauk’s and Rush’s level any time soon.

Section 7AA

The weakest AA section had International Falls  (#17AA in the pre-season, now unranked and 6-2) in the catbird seat 6 weeks ago but they’ve been replaced by Duluth Marshall (7-1, #22AA). Proctor is just 5-4 but could contend, as could several other teams. This one is wide open.

Section 8AA

The second toughest Class AA section features the defending state champs from Roseau (#12AA), but after a 6-4 start, they’re no longer the section fave. That would be red-hot Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. They’re not a complete surprise—we had them at #14AA in the pre-seaon. But they’ve now beaten arch-rival Barnesville, Thief River Falls and Class AAAA St. Francis and Moorhead, to take over the driver’s seat.

Barnesville and East Grand Forks are also rated but probably aren’t quite at that level.

State Tournament Preview

With all of that, here’s what a state tournament field could look like.

Sauk Centre (#1) vs. Duluth Marshall

Minnehaha (#4) vs. New London-Spicer (#5)

Dilworth-GF (#2) vs. Norwood Young America

Holy Family (#3) vs. Stewartville

Top Individuals

The top player in Class AA so far has been Monika Czinano, Watertown-Mayer post, who has kept her team in the hunt despite the loss of star guards Claire Killian and Kirstin Klitzke from last year's state tournament team. Otherwise, you gotta love senior guards like Maesyn Theisen of #1AA Sauk Centre, Natalie Steichen of #3 DGF, Kylie Post of #6 Maranatha, Shea Oman of #7 NLS and Nicole Herbranson of #13 Burnsville, among others.