Meet Preview: UIL Region 4 Championships

Region 4-1A

Girls 

Isabella Billingsley will look to bring another cross country regional title to the Billingsley house hold. Her father Coach Gary Billingsley has a regional title or two, or three....or more from his days coaching at Miller Grove and now at Tilden McMullen. Her brother, Isaiah Billingsley also has a couple to go along with his state titles.

However, now in high school, Isabella will try to win her first regional title. She comes in with the fastest time of the region as she dipped under 12:00 at the 2022 FEAST Patriot Invitational going 11:57.

Also figuring to play big parts in the individual race are fellow freshmen Kinsley Cox, (Utopia) and teammate Camie Taylor (Tilden McMullen) who have both run sub 13-minutes this year.

However, the young stars will have to outrun some girls who gained state meet experience last year. Abigail Huffhines (Aquilla) has an all-state finish from last season when she ran 12:56 and finished ninth. So far, she only has a 13:32 SB in the books, but don't down play what her eyes have seen as she has gone through the championship rounds before.

Tilden McMullen senior Sianna Serrata is another top-20 state meet finisher. She could be a front runner at the region meet and help lead her young teammates through stressful times.

McMullen County comes in ranked No. 4 in the state and they look free and clear for the Region team title. We already talked about Billingsley, Taylor, and Serrata, but they could put their top 7 runners ahead of other teams two runners.

It could be a close race for the runner-up team trophy as Leakey, Round Top Carmine, and Medina have team averages within seconds of one another.

Boys

Sophomore Brandon Timms (Tilden McMullen) is the third best returning runner from last year's state cross country meet. However, he has his work cut out for him in the region. Cole Fenhaus (Fayetteville) has a 16:08 performance on the season; although not sure if that was an accurate 5K course, look for Fenhaus to show that he is no fluke and turn in a strong run.

Jose Ventura (Lasara) ran well at the UIL 1A District 32 meet taking the win with his 16:44 PR over Timms. Now that these meets are no longer formalities and the cream will have to rise and we'll soon see who the top runner is.

Colby Ornelas (Avalon) Cyrus Kubena (Dime Box), and Edgar Mendiola (Moulton) all have sub 18-minute runs on the season and will additionally be key in the individual race and the team race.

Speaking of the boys team race, Tilden McMullen, Fayetteville, San Perlita, and Utopia were the state meet qualifiers last year with Tilden McMullen taking the bronze trophy. They are the No. 4 ranked team in the state with Fayetteville checking in at No. 7 in the CCCAT poll.

Utopia looks like a qualifier again with two boys under 19-minutes with Nueces Canyon having three boys under 19:00. It could get tight on Nueces Canyon as although Spurger doesn't have one runner under 19-minutes, they have four boys who can run under 20-minutes with five who can finish well ahead of Nueces Canyon's four and five runners.