28. Angel Torres (Tornillo)

As the lone representative of UIL conference 3A on the preseason All-State team, Angel Torres is primed for a huge senior year. He has two years of rather unique but ultimately successful experience in championship cross country races on his resume.

In each of the last two years, he finished higher at the state meet than he did at the Region 1 Championships. Sophomore year, he was seventh in the region yet managed a sixth place finish at the state meet. In the fall of 2021, the margin of improvement was larger and far more dramatic. A rough day on Region 1's brutal three mile course saw Torres fade to 14th place and scrape into the state meet as the final individual qualifier. In Round Rock though, his resilience shone through in a climax nearly fit for fiction. On the day Torres summoned his best form and was less than one tenth of a second away from winning gold as he found himself on the wrong side of a photo finish with Poth's Wyatt Hoover.

However, the spring brought him redemption as he flipped Hoover to win the 3A 1600m state title in a personal best time of 4:16. Now, Torres will enter the senior year as the top returner in 3A cross country with a long sought after gold medal under his belt from the track. The moral of his story is to not write him off no matter what happens leading into the State Championship in November.

27. Garrick Spieler (Frisco Reedy)

Spieler is one of the names on this list who had a decent fall, but really came to life in the spring of his junior year. Going from a 31st place finish at the 5A State Cross Country Championship to finishing sixth in the state 1600 final could be boiled down to the profile of someone who has good leg speed and decent strength.

In Spieler's case however, he also managed to qualify for and finish sixth in the 3200 at the 5A State Meet. His personal best of 9:18 is further proof of his strength which came to fruition at the business end of the track season.

If Spieler improves as much over the summer as he seems to have done last winter, he will be a truly formidable opponent in Conference 5a and make a big jump towards the podium in November.

25. Joseph Wienen (Georgetown)

Much of the state is unaware who Wienen is and there is a good reason for it. It's because he had such a short cross country season.

What's odd, is that his first meet of the season came where many other athlete seasons ended at the 5A Region 4 Championship. He managed to lead his team to a state qualification with a solid 12th place finish; at the state meet, he finished 22nd overall. Wienen was also the top sophomore and the ninth best non-senior in the state meet race.

In the spring, Wienen enjoyed a longer season which included personal bests of 4:14 and 9:20 as well as a fourth place finish in the State 1600m Championship and he can comfortably be classed as the best rising junior in 5A and is firmly among the most promising in the state.

If he can build on the fitness he found in the spring and string a whole season of races together this fall, it will be no surprise if Wienen makes a big jump at the state meet and reach a level where he is competitive beyond the boundaries of 5A.

24. Jude Alvarez (Southlake Carroll)

As a sophomore, Alvarez stepped up in a big way to help Southlake Carroll secure a third consecutive state title. His 20th place finish at the state meet was the second best performance among sophomores in the race and ninth among all non-seniors.

While he could only manage 89th at the NXR South Regional, he had a solid 158th place finish at the Garmin Running Lane Championships which was essentially midpack in a field of the nation's very best.  

His racing on the track season was limited, but respectable nonetheless. He lowered his personal bests to 4:23 in the 1600 and 9:34 in the 3200. With Southlake returning the bulk of their varsity squad, Alvarez working his way towards the front end of big championship races will be a welcome boost in the champions' quest to retain their title and a potential gut punch to any hopeful usurpers of the Dragons' throne. 

23. Robert Freeman (Southlake Carroll)

Another returning member of the 6A State Champions to look out for is Robert Freeman. Though he did not race in the spring, Freeman certainly had a significant impact on the Dragons' title winning campaign as his best performances came in the championship season.

In his 22nd place finish at the state meet, he was third on Southlake's team and the eighth overall finisher among non-seniors. As Southlake athletes often do, Freeman ran his best race at the NXR South Regional Championship by finishing 20th and helping the Dragons to a second place finish. He also got experience racing in a deep, nationally elite field at the Garmin RunningLane Championships. 

If Freeman is healthy and can discover the same form he was in last November, he has the chance to be one of Southlake's multiple potential top ten finishers at the state meet and the Nike South Regional.

22. Jack Johnston (Prosper)

- 23rd @UIL 6a State XC, 34th @NXR South, 3rd @6a Region 2 3200

Johnston's junior cross country season was one of consistency. While he may not have had any performances that were particularly remarkable, he proved to be a reliable leading man for Prosper on the grass, then took another step forward in the spring.

His best performance in cross country arguably came in late August in the form of a fifth place finish at the Southlake Carroll Invite. From there, he maintained a solid level of performance finishing in and around the top 15 at meets such as the Marcus Coach T Invitational and the McNeil Elite Invitational. His 23rd place finish at state leaves him as the 11th highest returner in UIL's 6A conference and a 34th place finish at the NXR South Regional is about what could be expected given his finish at state.

His track season was highlighted by a third place finish in the 3200m at the 6a region 1 Championship where a personal best performance of 9:17 left him out of the state meet by a margin of less than a second. 

Leading a young Prosper team into the 2022 cross country season, Johnston will certainly believe that he can climb a few more rungs of the ladder and be a reliable low stick for his promising team.