The Lovejoy Fall XC Invitational is known for an strong and competitive executed cross country meet. Being the home of one of the best cross country programs in the state, there is that mainstay of competition on arrival. However, the quality of teams and individuals the event attracts makes it even more of one of the events in the stat of Texas you want to compete in or watch for the results and the action.
That sentiment holds true for this year's event. Some of the top teams in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and others from across the state will compete. On the girls side, state championship teams from last year like Colleyville Heritage, Highland Park, Prosper, Hallsville, and Flower Mound are all registered for the meet. Katy Tompkins, Round Rock, Comal Canyon, Cedar Park, and Austin Vandegrift are other top teams from outside of the DFW will. competing.
Some of the top runners like Isabel Conde De Frankenberg, Abigail Bass, Haley Harper, Sara Morefield, and Amy Morefield, are just some of the top athletes we have already seen run under 18 minutes for the season. With the exception of Harper, all of these young ladies have won either and individual or team state championship. Plano West's newcomer, Harper is having an exceptional season making the Texas cross country scene take notice of her ability to race.
Charis Whittington from Richardson Pearce is another runner who has been on fire this season, The Pearce Mustang has been running like a thoroughbred over many of the cross country courses in North Texas. Charlotte Hudson and Madeline Heckler, both off Highland Park have proven themselves as very competitive individuals. Two other individuals to keep an eye on this weekend are Rowan Saacke from Katy Tompkins and Isabella Edwards from Texas Independent Homeschool.
Saacke, just a freshman, has won two MileSplit TX performer of the week polls due to two wins at high level Houston area meets. Edwards, is entering the meet from a different angle. The senior is on a soft roll out to her 2022 season. She competed at the FEAST Patriot Inv a couple of weeks ago and will be making her second effort this season at perhaps the toughest meet in the state this weekend.
Again, the boys race will feature some quality Texas teams. The Denton boys have been the UIL 5A state meet podium finishers for two consecutive seasons. Add UIL 6A state meet qualifiers Prosper, Coppell, Flower Mound, and Wylie, who are all some of the best teams in 6A and you can see how good of a race the elite boys will be.
From the capital city area are Round Rock and Austin Vandergrift to make two additional state meet qualifying teams that will help make this an excellent race to watch. Katy Tompkins has consistently been one of the top Houston area teams over the past five to six years are also headed to Myers Park.
Individually, Wyatt Athey has been one of Texas' best distance runners over the last three years. According to the virtual meet, he has the top SB this year with his 14:56 at the Carroll XC Inv. Jack Johnston, Andrew Mullen, Brayden Kennedy, and Vedant Bhattacharyya have been mainstays at the front pack of races in the DFW area.
Will Vandergrift have their top runner Kevin Sanchez is going to be the question on whether this meet takes an additional bump in status. Nevertheless, other Austin area runners like Hudson Haley, Kai McCullough , Dylan Schieffelin, William Plotts, and Luke Hein will race it out at Myers Park.
Riley Nedrow from Boyd and Cumberland Academy junior Abel Solorio from Tyler could have major impacts on the race.
Check out the links to the virtual meets and visualize how these races could play out. MileSplit will be on site for coverage, so come back to review the results and coverage of the meet.
| Lovejoy xc fall festival virtual meets |
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| Girls Individual Results |
| Girls Team Score Results |
| Boys Individual Results |
| Boys Team Score Results |