Houston St. Agnes distance runner Leah Klenke won three distance races at the 2021 TAPPS state meet
Distance Events
Girls 800m
With seven girls entered who have run under 2:20, this could be a close race. Three girls who could spread the race out are Leah Klenke (Houston St. Agnes), Emily Ellis (Cypress Bridgeland), and Cassidy Graham (Cypress Bridgeland).
Klenke is the defending TAPPS state champion and has a 2:14.45 seed time. Ellis qualified for the UIL 6A state meet last year and has a 2:15.45 seed time, while her teammate Graham has a 2:16.94 seed.
In the 1600m, it'll be Klenke and Graham again. Klenke was also the TAPPS 1600m champ last year and has a 4:55.90 seed time. Graham, who also qualified for the UIL 6A state meet, has a 4:57.13 seed time.
There are four other girls entered who have run under 5:10. Ellis was at the state meet last year in this event.
In the 3200m, it's Ellis and Graham at it again. Both Bridgeland runners have sub 11 minute performances in their careers with Ellis at 10:46.64 and Graham checking in at 10:49.64.
Another big challenger will be Texas Independent Home Schooler Isabella Edwards. Edwards has also has a sub 11 minute performance with a 10:59.78 seed time. She was runner-up at the Texas A&M Indoor High School Inv.
Boys Distance
The boys 800m is a deep field. With 16 boys entered who have run under 2:00, the path to the win will be earned.
Wyatt Green (Katy Cinco Ranch) rattled off some very impressive indoor races in this event. He was runner-up at the Texas A&M Indoor HS Classic and later won the Arkansas Inv. in 1:54.76.
Also indoors, Nick Rodriguez (Victoria St. Joseph) ran 1:56.99 and Ethan Rodriguez (San Antonio Reagan) ran 1:58.15, and Nathan Turman (Bridgeland) has gone 1:56.18 outdoors.
The boys 1600m could be blazing fast. There are 19 boys who enter with seed times of 4:30 and better including six sub 4:20s this year.
Reese Vannerson (Houston Strake Jesuit) already dropped a 4:15 this year and could run faster than his 4:12 PR. He was fifth last year at the UIL 6A state meet. Kevin Sanchez (Austin Vandegrift ran 4:14.47 indoors in the one mile and Nathanael Berhane (Wylie) went 4:23.08 indoors. Turman ran a 4:22.27 at the Sam Mosely Relays two weeks ago, showing how primed and ready he could be for this race.
The boys 3200m could be equally as exciting.
Ruben Rojas Betanzos (Katy Seven Lakes) ran 14:47 in the 5K this past cross country season at the RunningLane XC Nationals. The Syracuse commit will have his hands full with several other capable long distance runners.
He'll have Vannerson who will step up from the 1600m who has a 9:15 PR from last year and Carter Gordy (Montgomery Lake Creek) who was a state meet qualifier last spring.
Add in other stud cross country runners like Berhane (Wylie) who was fifth at the Texas UIL state cross country meet and the UIL 5A state runner-up team Denton High boys (Wyatt Athey and Drew McLaughlin) then we could see this race go sub 9:10.