There are essentially three categories of "State" Meets in Minnesota Prep Cross Country History.
The earliest were Meets sponsored by the University of Minnesota from 1925 to 1928. Between the depression of 1929 and a decision by the Minneapolis Public School Board to prohibit their schools from participating in State Meets not sponsored by the Minnesota State High School League, the University of Minnesota sponsored meets were discontinued.
In 1943 the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) agreed to sponsor a State Meet that was going to be hosted by the University of Minnesota and a group of high school coaches. After the successful 1943 Meet the MSHSL took over control of the event and it continues today as the MSHSL State Meet.
Prior to the fall of 1974, non-public schools were not allowed to compete in MSHSL State Meets. Thus, Catholic schools had their own Catholic State Meet from 1962 to 1967 and non- Catholic private schools (the Minnesota Independent School League) had their own MISL State Meet from 1962 to 1967. From 1968 thru 1973 the non-public schools joined together for a Private School State Meet or Minnesota State Independent School Meet.
Each State Meet had/has its own means of qualifying individuals to their State Meet. If qualification occurred in a single meet it has been called a Regional or Sectional Meet. In some MSHSL State Meets qualifying occurs through two meets. The first meet is a District Meet and that qualifies athletes for the second meet, a Regional (from 1955 to 1990) or Sectional (since 1991).
Most schools in Minnesota belong to conferences. Many conferences sponsor annual Conference Meets to determine their Conference Champion. Some conferences determine their champions through dual meets. Some conferences have switched back and forth between the two methods, thus not all conferences have meets for all years. Regardless, performances in Conference Meets has never had any influence on advancing to State Meets or State Qualifiers.
There are certain invitationals and other resources that I judge to warrant inclusion on this site.