Ellis Eserman (R) is Guyer's top individual
As we outlined on the first page, there are some outstanding boys teams who will be in this race. That includes schools from outside of the Texas borders. With that, you should expect to see some barn burning kind of running in Denton.
The state of Arkansas will send runners who will definitely enhance the boys field this weekend. If you haven't heard the name Hudson Betts you better acquaint yourself with him now before it's too late. He is the defending Arkansas state champion on grass last year as well as the 3200m state champ on the track. Whatever you do, don't turn your nose up on his Arkansas state titles. When his guy travels to run, he produces some break your neck type of runs.
Betts ran his 1,600m PR last spring at TDF and then ran his 3,200m PR at RunningLane. Those times -- well they're just elite level 4:09 and 9:09 performances; he is the fastest dude in the field on the track. His SB in the 5k is 15:36 from two weeks ago at the McKinney Boyd Bronco Inv. That was a win for him and on a tough Myers Park course. On the South Lakes Park flat course, he could go under 15:00.
Betts isn't the only guy from the Natural State who can put it down. James American Horse (JAH) not only has a great name, but the Bentonville star was sixth at the state meet last year as a sophomore. Thomas Henry is JAH's Bentonville teammate and along with Betts' Fayetteville boys Nate Rogerson and Hunter Kemp, the 2022 MileSplit TX XC Inv title could go up north.
There will be no shortage of Texas harriers who will challenge the out of state runners. First on the list should be Caden Thurman from Wolfe City. Thurman may be a 2A runner, but this kid is on a mission this season. He was runner-up last year at the state meet, but tasted gold on the track. He ran 15:23 at Lovejoy last weekend and with a field this stacked, he could run faster.
Next up, we have to put Ellis Eserman out there. The Denton Guyer junior has run faster this year in every race than he did all of last year. With three races under 15:45, he has been very consistent.
Owen Cole from Flower Mound is another runner who has been impressive this year. He wasn't too far off the finishing pace of Thurman and Eserman last week and he showed aggressiveness to run with the leaders in the first mile last week.
Dallas St. Marks' Raja Mehendale didn't have the best of runs last week, but the junior is a heck of a runner. This could be exactly the kind of field he needs to get things rolling. Georgetown brings a trio of boys who look to make an impressive impact on the state with their team. Joseph Wienen, Floyd Brooks, and Nolan House ran fast times at FEAST and could duplicate it this weekend.
Marcus' Parker Noffz and Matthias Peterson from Northwest Nelson have been making waves this season. If they can put in a complete race this weekend, they could go mid-15s.
There will be no shortage of more boys who have run sub 16-minutes this season with Tyler Westrom, Abel Solorio, Elijiah Rivera-Campos, Edwin Rivera, Aaron Ramirez, Garrick Spieler, Alexander Niemiec, Jack McKee, Brayden Kennedy, Matthew Kasenic, Hogan Heikkinen, Toby Eaton, and Oscar De La O.