6A Boys Championship Season Preview - by Ryan Shumaker
Coming into this Cross Country season, doubts and questions have surrounded some of the 6A powerhouses of whether or not they could replicate or build upon their success in recent years. Along with these doubts came confident ideas of which individuals and teams would be back to dominate once again. Finally, as there is every season, there has been a good amount of surprises of individuals who have stepped up in a big way and have shaken things up in a big way this season. Here is a List of which teams have answered the questions of whether they'd be as good as their predecessors and which teams have confirmed the beliefs of many that they are strong as they've ever been.
The Woodlands: The Woodlands boys came into the season with high expectations and certainly were preseason favorites to win their third straight state title and go back to NXN once again. Last year, the Highlanders graduated three of their top seven, two of whom placed in the top 10 at the state meet twice. Despite this loss of two key leaders, the Woodlands guys seem to be as dominant as ever. They've reloaded their varsity with two new seniors and a sophomore who along with three returning seniors have followed the lead of Gavin Hoffpauir who has won three of the four races he's competed in with his only loss being to Alex Maier and Jarrett Kirk. The Woodlands two through five average gap has been 17 seconds this season and with Hoffpauir competing for the win every time the team races, they've rolled over all the competition they've seen so far including a huge win at Nike South over two other powerhouses, The Woodlands College Park and Flower Mound. Considering their undefeated record so far this year and watching them have their best races at state the past two years, it is hard to see them losing to another Texas team this year.
Southlake Carroll: The reigning silver medalists and eleventh place finishers at NXN came into this season with questions surrounding them about how they could possibly be as good without the Footlocker champion and two other outstanding seniors who led the way for the Dragons in 2016. The Carroll boys started the 2017 season with a bang when they dominated the Hebron Friday Night Hawk Invite scoring just 36 points. They went on to win at Marcus 1 with a 15:55 average, defeating the Flower Mound boys. At the Woodbridge classic in California, the Carroll guys placed fifth in the sweepstakes race, one spot higher than last year. Southlake Carroll has definitely answered any question of whether they are capable of protecting their long standing tradition of earning a spot on the podium at Old Settler's Park and a trip to Nike Cross Nationals. The question that still remains is can they run the race it will take to bring home a state title, something they last did in 2014 which for a program like Carroll is far too long of a time to go without a set of gold medals.
Flower Mound: While questions revolved around Southlake's ability to fill the big shoes Reed Brown and his teammates who graduated, confoundment about Flower Mound arose after Jarrett Kirk crossed the Marcus 1 finish line in fourth and went on to run 15:12 at Southlake and take second twice at Flower Mound and Nike South. After watching Alex Maier go from being another talented freshman with great potential to being a sophomore All-American in under a year, people were left scratching their heads wondering how he made the massive jump. Whatever formula was used to take Maier to an elite level worked again on another Flower Mound sophomore. The Flower Mound boys have placed third in the state two years in a row and have made it clear while being proud of their last two state finishes, they're ready to upgrade from bronze to a silver or gold medal. The way things are going so far this season, most people wouldn't be surprised to see them on the podium again, the problem the team faces is, how can they close the gap on such a tightly packed Woodlands team. It seems for the Jaguars to win a state title, they're going to need just about everything to go their way on November 4th. Something that would really give them a boost would be if Maier and Kirk can grab the gold and silver individually at state which is certainly possible. Even if this happens though, their 3-5 will need to have a big day and they'll need help from Southlake and some other teams to split up The Woodlands guys who also have a potential state champion on their team.
The Woodlands College Park: In 2016, this team had a rollercoaster of a season as they were ranked in the national Flo50 top 25 teams until they blew up at state where they took ninth. They did however finish the season strong as they pulled off an upset on their cross-town rival The Woodlands at NXR south and then went on to beat their goal of not finishing last at NXN. This year, College Park returned four of their top seven from last year and so far this season they've scored a perfect 15 points at the Willis WildKat Invitational, then went on to take second to The Woodlands at the Brenham Hillacious Invitational and Nike South. At Nike South, they did beat Flower Mound by 16 which speaks to the tight grouping of their 1-5 as they averaged 16:09 with a 28 second split. College Park is definitely a team with the ability to make the podium at state, but if they are really looking for the gold they will have to find a way to get a guy or two scoring single digit points at state while maintaining a tight grouping with their top five.
El Paso Eastwood: The 2016 season was a very good season for Eastwood. They reigned supreme in West Texas. At the UIL 6A state meet, Eastwood finished in 6th place. That was 2016 and a year later and without their All-American teammate Daniel Bernal, they were forced into a new era of Eastwood cross country. That journey brought them to last week's Desert Twilight in Casa Grande, Arizona where they had the breakout performance of their lives. Last year, they won this race as a team, but that was with Bernal. This year, the entire team stepped up and ran the team race of their lives. That race catapulted Eastwood into the top spot in the team rankings. Their entire top five guys ran under 16:00 with their team average being 15:31 and they did it with only a 38 second 1-5 split. Led by seniors Anthony Molina (15:11) and Gabriel Armijo (15:16), Eastwood appears to be in a good position to possibly win their first state title.
Several of these teams are no stranger to the podium at state or Nike Cross Nationals. Flower Mound is extremely front loaded with Kirk and Maier being individual big dogs, however their three through five was what lacked when they went up against College Park and The Woodlands at Nike South and Southlake Carroll at Marcus 1. In contrast to Flower Mound, College Park has a fantastic grouping, but have lacked a guy who can mix it up with Hoffpauir, Maier or Kirk in a big meet. Getting someone who can place really high at state will be essential if they want to win. Eastwood appears to possibly have a front runner or two and the back end to support them. Southlake Carroll at the moment seems like the most worthy challenger of The Woodlands. While they may not have a big name leading their team on this year, every time they've raced with the exception of Woodbridge, the Carroll guys have had multiple seniors and juniors step up and place right near the front while maintaining a tight one through five gap. Each of those three teams have a particular strength and weakness, however The Woodlands seems to have the best of both worlds with a big dog individual and a classic Woodlands 2-5 tight grouping that is hard to see being beaten by another Texas team. Whatever happens, there's no doubt that this championship season will be one for the ages on the team side as The Woodlands goes for number 20 (3rd in a row) and the other 6A powerhouses come at them with everything they have and try to overthrow the state champs.