Information provided by Greenhill XC Head Coach Jason Yaffe
MEET HISTORY
- The meet began 32 years ago and was the brainchild of Greenhill's legendary cross country and track coach, Tom Holodak. Over the years it has served as the kick off meet for many DFW high school cross country programs.
TEAMS TO WATCH
GIRLS:
- 6A/5A DIVISION:
- Perennial Powerhouses Southlake Carroll and Lewisville Hebron will likely lead the charge in the big schools girls race. Southlake's girls are the defending relays champs and last year had a very fine late season run in placing 2nd at 6A states, 2nd at the Nike South Regional meet and 15th at Nike Nationals. Gillian Mortimer is their top returner. Junior Abby Riordan, fresh off a 3rd place finish at last weekend's Hebron Hawk Invite, paces Hebron. She was 8th at 6A states last November. St. Agnes, the TAPPS 5A runner up at states, is here for the first time from Houston. They will be led by 10th grader Maryella Cohn, a 5:12 1600 meter runner on the track. Forney could also be in the mix, having placed 7th as a team in the 2015 5A state xc meet.
- 4A AND UNDER:
- Alvarado, coached by Darryl Bishop, are the two time defending champs in the small school varsity race. They dominated the field last year, winning by almost one minute. Sanger is closing the gap though, especially after placing 2nd as a team at the 4A state xc meet. Sanger will likely be paced by Audrey Springer, 10th at last year's state meet, and her team is coached by Clint Davidson. After them the field looks wide open with possible top five teams including Decatur, Greenhill, Pilot Point, and Ft Worth Nolan.
BOYS:
- 6A/ 5A DIVISION:
- Justin Leonard's Southlake Carroll Dragons are paced by one of the fastest runners in the state with Reed Brown. As a junior, Brown finished 5th in the state xc meet before racing to new bests of 4:04 for the 1600 and 8:50 for the 3200 on the track this spring. He is aiming to keep the yellow jerseys with the Dragons and then lead them back to the state meet and the Nike national xc meet. Doug Robinson's Dallas Jesuit squad also has one of the top runners in the state in Connor O'Neill. O'Neill, 6th at states last November, will be looking for three other teammates to help get the Rangers in the top 3. Tanner Culbreath's Jenks boys are back from Oklahoma as defending Oklahoma 6A state champs! Coach Scott Monnard has his Norman High School runners and they are consistently Oklahoma's best, as is Mike Kerley's Strake Jesuit squad from Houston.
- 4A AND UNDER:
- Look for Sanger to be near the front as defending champs in the 4a and under division. Sanger finished 4th at the 215 4A xc state meet and will likely be led by Miguel Ibarra and Landon CeBallos. There will also be strong teams from Decatur, Ft Worth Nolan, Isidore Newman, Liberty Christian, St. Mark's and Greenhill.
INTERESTING STORIES:
- Longest trek to get here? Isidore Newman School traveled over 500 miles to come to their fourth relay, all the way from New Orleans, Louisiana! The Greenies are coached by Randy Zell.
- Shortest commute? Lake Highlands HS
- Largest number of entered four person teams? As always, the Lady Scots of Highland Park with 27. Southlake Carroll has a combined total of 36 teams.
- 1ST TIME PARTICIPANTS? Eaton High School, Hamilton High School, International Leadership of Texas Garland High School, Rockwall Heath, and St. Agnes.