6A Girls
Region 2-6A is full of very good girls teams. This is always a difficult region to figure out as not many teams compete against one another often. Several top girls haven't run much this year due to injury, recovery, and rest. Yet, this is the time of the year that they've all been waiting for.
The Prosper girls could be full strength and that could spell problems for the rest of the teams in the region. Last year Prosper won the region, was third at state, and then second at NXR South to qualify for NXN.
Austin Vandegrift qualified for state last year and had a high finish in sixth overall. They have had some injuries specifically to their top runner Jordan Mathis, but she has been working her way back the last couple of weeks and if her fitness is good this is a very good team, at the least a state qualifying squad.
The Woodlands College Park has been running well in the past few weeks as has Cypress Bridgeland. College Park is no stranger to the state meet and Bridgeland qualified as a team last season. College Park won their district meet by a slim 3 point margin, but Bridgeland had the opposite result. They dominated their district meet taking the first through seventh places in route to a perfect score.
Sleeper teams to keep a watch out for will Be Allen, Round Rock, The Woodlands, and McKinney Boyd.
Here are the girls top four team finishes:
1. Prosper
2. Austin Vandegrift
3. Allen
4. Bridgeland
Individually, a healthy Aubrey O'Connell is clearly one of the top runners in Texas. She will definitely be a lead runner. Expect an Allen duo of Brenna Zerby and Emilie Morgan have been running well since week one. Jordan Mathis' fitness will depict how much damage she can do in the race and Madeline Orr will be in the mix as well.
6A Boys
Can anybody in the region beat The Woodlands? NO! Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the real race, there will be four teams fighting for the last three qualifying spots.
The Woodlands College Park, Round Rock, Klein, and Austin Vandegrift will be battling it out against one another. College Park and Klein had a good district race where they were only separated by only two points. Those two points could be detrimental this time around unless they ensure they aren't for the last spot.
Round Rock was disappointed the last couple of years as they had quality opportunities to qualify for state, but they weren't able to make it happen. This could be their year as they have been rolling all season long and it will be hard to keep them from moving on. The team who could surprise is Austin Vandegrift. They have a legit low stick runner and they have some young talent running with nothing to lose. The season started out very tough personally for Vandegrift and they could be running with a lot of motivation on Monday.
Here are the boys top four team finishes:
1. The Woodlands
2. The Woodlands College Park
3. Klein
4. Round Rock
Individually, there will be a lot of studs in the race. Anthony Monte should win the race, but he will be challenged by last year's state meet third place finisher Ryan Cardinal as well as Nicklaus Brawner, Jonathan Chung, Ethan Hammer, Grant Wilcox, Ethan Hammer, and Hayden Gray.