The uniforms stood out, but the team has some serious unfinished business remaining after a change from 4A to 6A.
When I first saw the returning ranking for Highland Park, I was surprised - the team that finished 12th in the 4A state meet is ranked 6th among 6A teams for this upcoming season? Were there some regular-season times on a fast (or perhaps slightly short) course that inflated the ranking, or did they not have a good race at the state meet? What stands out about the Fighting Scots that justifies a spot in the countdown? Well, for starters, they return their top 5 guys from last year, and 6 of the top 7. Also, Highland Park finished second at their regional behind Frisco Wakefield, who ended up 2nd in the 4A meet, and in front of Lucas Lovejoy, the team that finished 3rd at states; that certainly suggests the state meet performance was simply bad day at the wrong time for the Scots. With a whopping 5 returning seniors that ran at the state meet last year, this team has experience, veteran leadership, and two reasons to be very motivated this fall: unfinished business from last year, plus the impending damage that graduation will inflict at the end of the school year. That's a perfect formula for a bounce-back year if ever I've seen one.
| Highland Park (TX) | ||||
| 1) Rico Lara | 16:02.00 | 29 | ||
| 2) Griffin Beitter | 16:12.00 | 49 | ||
| 3) Danny Leland | 16:24.74 | 79 | ||
| 4) Austin Roberts | 16:49.00 | 192 | ||
| 5) Brooks Munn | 16:52.00 | 211 | ||
| Average Time: 16:27.95 Total Time: 1:22:19.74 1-5 Split: 50.00 | ||||
| 6) Adam Rathjen | 16:58.20 | 243 | ||
| 7) Andrew Kliewer | 17:22.93 | 413 | ||