-Written by Jason Yaffe 

There are many staples for the month of August, namely the usual start of school in Texas and the beginning of the competitive xc season. Another mainstay has been the Greenhill/Luke's Locker 6 Mile Relay race. Teams have come and gone over the years, with hundreds of state champions kicking off their season at Norbuck Park. This year's event,  is back for its 37^th version on Saturday, August 27, 2022.

In the girls competition, it looks like Highland Park is the cream of the crop. The Lady Scots are the defending relay champions, having won last year for the first time since 2012. They actually started their season winning the Plano Invitational on August 13, averaging 19:36 for their top five. Most recently, Coach Sue Bailey's team competed in the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational last weekend where the Lady Scots had three runners under 19:20, paced by senior Charlotte Hudson.  They won the team title at last weekend's race with a 19:15 average time over 5K. It will be interesting to see if Ursuline, McKinney Boyd, and Forney can be in the mix, too. Decatur, Kinkaid, and Sanger will all be vying to win the 4A and under race. Sanger raced well last Friday at the Hebron Hawk Invitational, finishing second behind a very strong crew from Celina. Sanger averaged 12:57 for their top five over the two mile race.

The boys competition could very well end up being a dual between schools such as Norman (OK) and  McKinney Boyd. Don't overlook our neighbors to the north as Norman High School is a perennial top 5 team at the 6 Mile Relay and won the Relay back in 2012. Closer to home, the McKinney Boyd squad is paced by senior Zach Martin, who opened up his season with a 15:43 at the Plano Invitational. As a team, they won that race with a 16:32 average. In the 4A and under division, watch out for the team from Sanger. They looked great over two miles in the Hebron race with a 11:04 average. St. Mark's and the Decatur boys team will also be racing to challenge Greenhill, this year's defending champions. 

It's August and true to form, the hay bales will be in place when the starting gun goes off at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.