Girls
The fastest girl in the country is in Region 1. Ava Bushaw (Southlake Carroll) ran the fastest time in the nation last week when she ran 16:43 at the UIL 6A District 4 meet. Look for her to ride that momentum and fitness to one of the best races yet this season. In the race, Bushaw will face off with her teammate Alexandra Walsh who has a 17:05 PR, which ranks her No. 5 in the state.
What will make the race even more outstanding is Shewaye Johnson (Prosper), the top returning finisher from last year's state meet and ranked No. 6 in the state, No. 7 Nicole Humphries (Flower Mound), No. 8 Samantha Humphries (Flower Mound), No. 9 Audrey Dunn (Southlake Carroll), No. 10 Macy Wingard (Denton Braswell), No. 12 Haley Harper (Plano West), No. 13 Sylvia Schwedler (Southlake Carroll), No. 19 Izzy Lochtefeld (Northwest Eaton), and No. 20 Alexandra Fox (Flower Mound) are all contenders in this stacked contest.
Let's not kid ourselves, the best two teams in the state of Texas are in Region 1. Flower Mound and Southlake Carroll have won the last two UIL state meet team titles and they are the top two this year. Deciding which team is better on any given day is the real question.
The UIL 6A - District 4, UIL 6A - District 5, and UIL 6A District 6 all turned in the fastest times of the district championships. District 4 in Southlake had perhaps the most significant performance of all and for a couple of reasons. We already mentioned Bushaw's national leading run, but the entire Dragon team proved they are ready for championship season as their top five scorers PRed by an average of 33 seconds.
Also, a key takeaway from this meet is that fact that Southlake was running without their usual season number one finisher Alexandra Walsh who finished 23rd overall. This fact could prove the Dragons are more than just a threat on paper to win back the UIL 6A team title.
Here is the final take from the 4-6A district meet. Two teams also moving onto the Regional round from the District 4 meet and changing the entire perception of the season are Northwest Eaton and Northwest Nelson. They finished second and third behind Carroll, but they also showed how much they improved at an accelerated pace.
Eaton ran a season best (SB) 18:33 team average with only a 51 second split between the first through five runners. Those five scorers all PRed by almost an average of 37 seconds per runner. Their district counterparts were not to be left behind as Nelson's five scorers ran a 18:41 SB team average. They had a PR average amongst their five scorers of nearly 1:02
Last year, Eaton shocked a lot of people by making huge strides as the entire 2021 season went along. They qualified for the state meet as a team and have pretty much mirrored last year with picking things up at just the right time.
Nelson, who figured to make an impact on the district and in the state eventually have done it a year earlier than what we figured. They have two coaches on their staff who have won UIL 6A team titles at other schools and it's already paying dividends.
Did the district race prove three of the top four teams in the state are in that one district? We'll see.
Other teams to look out for are Prosper, Dallas Highland Park, and Keller. They all have team averages under 19:50, but they also have their own story and motivation to shoot for at the state meet.
Prosper graduated three key girls from their program, but they have sophomore Reagan Reed who has a 18:22 SB to help provide front racing support for Johnson. Highland Park is in their first season in 6A and the regional race in Lubbock was a first for all of their current roster. They have a big three who could qualify for state individually, but their strength is in their pack running. Their first three run pretty tight and their second four do the same. Keller is the sleeper of the region; they have a solid No. 1 runner in Vivien Boehmer and their 2-4 runners can run pretty tight. This is their first year under a new coach and they are clicking at just the right time.
Boys