(Editor's Note: The following is from John's Journal, the blog of Minnesota State High School League's John Millea.)

Every year when the Milaca Mega Meet is held, the key word is Mega. This is the big one, with 150 schools and more than 5,900 cross-country runners registered for the 2014 Mega Meet, which was held Saturday at Stones Throw Golf Course.

And it’s not just runners and coaches. It’s parents, grandparents, siblings, dogs, cars, buses, picnic lunches and more. The little town of Milaca (population 2,946) was absolutely inundated Saturday, with buses parked everywhere near the golf course and fans parking across town and being brought to the meet via shuttles.

The Mega Meet is a logistical challenge, including setting up and taking down all the course markings, flags, finish-line chute, etc., to the simple (or not-so-simple act) of running 19 different races between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Teams come from all over Minnesota plus North Dakota and Wisconsin, and a starter’s pistol is fired every 15 minutes as another race begins.

“This year it’s the biggest since I’ve been involved, and I believe these are the biggest numbers in the history of the race,” said meet director and Milaca cross-country coach Dave Dillan.

Team buses line the road at the Milaca Mega Meet in Minnesota

This was the 44th year of the Mega Meet, which began as the Princeton Invitational. It changed locations in Princeton a couple times, was moved to Milaca and a big area in the country in 1997, shifted to Foley for two years, returned to Milaca when the golf course became available and and has gotten larger every year. 

“When we were in the field we loved the course but it was a little rough for the runners,” Dillan said. “The golf course is great.”

The racing order is straightforward. The day begins with races for seventh-, eighth, ninth- and 10th-grade boys and girls, followed by boys and girls varsity races with teams split into four classes. The final event of the day is an alumni race; the instructions read “participants must be an alumni of something.”

Now that the 2014 Mega Meet is in the books, these next few days will bring messages of thanks from all over.

“It’s probably the best part of doing this meet,” Dillan said. “We get emails and letters from parents and kids, saying this is the highlight of their running career and they look forward to coming every year. Those things are really nice to hear.”

The MSHSL state cross-country championships include a total of 696 runners, split into two classes for boys and two for girls (174 in each).

So imagine how hard it is to plan and execute a day of racing for nearly 10 times as many entrants.

“The logistics can be a litte hairy,” Dillan said. “We use every port-a-potty in town, I’ll tell you that. And it’s still not enough.”

To see a photo gallery from the Mega Meet, visit the MSHSL Facebook page.