Adele Clarke competes at the 2021 Lovejoy Inv.
4A Girls
The UIL 4A girls individual and team races will be just as good as the UIL 5A girls races are expected to be on Friday.
Last year's individual champion Adele Clarke is once again a favorite as one of the top returning runners, as she is one of this season's leaders. Her 11:01 SB has her ranked No. 2 in the state.
The good thing is Clarke recently ran her SB at regionals. The challenging part is that her district and regional competition Abigail Bass (Melissa) ran her 10:45 SB the at the same time.
Canyon runners Abree Winfrey (11:07) and Avery Brown (11:11) are the third and fourth ranked runners heading into Saturday.
The Canyon girls have won three consecutive state championships and looks to win their fourth. Although two important runners from last year's team didn't return this year, the Lady Eagles have still been a force to be reckoned with all season long.
Celina was the runner-up last year and was only six points behind Canyon. With a stronger and more experienced group than they had last year, this could be their year.
Kaufman is last year's other podium team and they have a shot at doing so again. Sanger could be a hiccup in that plan. Sanger beat them at regionals, but actually it's their sub 60 second 1-5 split that makes them so good.
Predictions
So, this prediction is tricky because it's the most minor detail that happens in the race could be a huge deciding factor.
The way it looks on paper, Bass should win the individual title. She has been on a tear all season long and recent wins over the state champion pretty much makes her the favorite.
That doesn't mean Clarke doesn't get her state title this time around. We are going to pick Celina to end Canyon's reign mostly because of their 11:40 team average and 1:06 team split from the Region 2-2A Championships. Another performance like that and it doesn't matter who they're running against, they'd likely win.
Hudson Bennett also competed at the 2021 Lovejoy Inv.
With Judson Greer, Edwin Gomez, and Samuel Ashley at North Carolina, Texas, and Texas Tech, the UIL 4A boys state championship will have new front runners and a new champion.
Chris Moreno (San Elizario) has the best speed rating from the regional meets and is the second best returner from last year's state meet when he finished seventh overall in 16:02.
Several other guys have their sights on the top of the podium. Angel Sanchez (Fort Worth Diamond Hill-Jarvis), Micah Swann (Athens), Hudson Bennett (Burnet), Emery Crayton (Tyler Chapel Hill), and Edwin Rivera (Kaufman) all have good chances to win the title.
The 4A boys team race looks like it will be a toss up. With so many skewed results and questions as to what's an actual 5,000m course, it's hard to know what's real.
It looks like Canyon and San Elizario are the real deal. They went first and second in Region 1-4A and although they ran 3 miles for regionals, it was a tough course.
Kaufman looked good in their Region 2-4A win and La Feria survived the rough Region 4-4A conditions and those two teams should also contend for the win and the podium.
Predictions
Even with all of the possible individual challengers, the race could potentially come down to just two guys in the latter parts of the race. Bennett hasn't had the best cross country state meet experiences, but this season he has been consistent. He had success at the state track meet by winning the 3200m and placing third in the 1600m.
Moreno also had success in May by finishing second in the 800m. That along with his seventh place cross country finish and he could be ready to step up onto the podium.
This could be Bennett's chance to win in cross.
This could also be the Canyon boys shot at a state title. They have taken the steps to get where they are and beating San Elizario at regionals was proof that they're ready and they could hoist the gold trophy.