Region 4-2A
Girls Team Race Preview:
CCCAT Ranked Teams: No. 1 Goldthwaite, No. 9 Weimar, No. 10 Mason
Last year, Mason finished fifth overall at the state meet and Goldthwaite was eighth. Both squads have higher expectations for their finishing placements, but they'll have to survive Corpus Christi first.
The top ranked Goldthwaite sports a 12:18 average with a 60 second split and it's Mason coming in with a 13:31 average and an impressive 0.24 second split. Weimar isn't far behind with their 13:38 and 0.47 split.
Johnson City LBJ graduated their No. 2 and No. 7 runners from last year's state meet squad, but don't count them out as Jackie Earley can keep her squad in the mix with a low stick finish.
Favorites: Goldthwaite, Weimar, Mason, Johnson City LBJ
Teams to Watch: Falls City, Stockdale
Girls Individual Race Preview:
Goldthwaite is the top ranked team in the state in part to runs by Emily Bartek, Payten McGee, Rani House, and Rylie Hillis. The quartet ran season best runs way back in August at the Belton XC Inv.
Bartek leads the region with a 11:47 and McGee is right behind her with a 12:04.
We mentioned Jackie Earley and it's with just cause. She has the region's third best mark at 12:18 at the end of September with her 12:18. She was an all-state runner from the state meet last year when she place seventh.
Favorites: Emily Bartek, Payten McGee, Rani House, Rylie Hillis, Jackie Earley
Others to Watch: Mia Picazo, Kaycei Salazar, Elsa Temples
Boys Team Race Preview:
CCCAT Ranked Teams: No. 6 Port Aransas
Coach Reaves always seems to have a Port Aransas team in the mix for regional and state titles, or at the least qualifying to Round Rock. His No. 6 ranked squad is just ons step away from a return trip where they can amend their 16th place finish in Round Rock last November.
Port A heads into Corpus Christi with the top team average of 17:32. Their split is larger than they'd like at 2:02, but they have six boys who can compete with anyone in Region 4.
Premont would also like to improve last year's state meet finish. They were 13th overall and graduated their top individual runner from last year. They have a 18:00 team average this year and their ability to run under 0.40 seconds within one another will be a key for their best race. They ran a 18:34 average at district, but with a 2:18 deviation.
Stockdale is the other team in the region with a sub eighteen-minute average. Their 17:52 shows they can run and it's thanks to their number one runner, but their compression is a concern.
Santa Maria and San Antonio Stacey were the other two teams to represent the region at state, but graduation may have depleted them too much. Santa Maria ran a 18:49 average at district, but had a 3:37 compression. Stacey ran a 20:18 team average at their district.
Favorites: Port Aransas, Premont, Stockdale
Teams to Watch: Santa Maria and Agua Dulce
Boys Individual Race Preview:
Taylor Warrick has the top run on the year with his 16:15. He placed sixth at last year's state meet.
William Carlough has two sub seventeen-minute runs this year and ran 17:09 at the Hoka/McNeil Inv.
Also in the sixteens is Alan Baez Corpus from Ganado. He has a 16:51 best this season and is the top returner from last year's state meet where he was third overall.
Favorites: Alan Baez Corpus, Taylor Warrick, William Carlough
Challengers: Samuel Norris, Shane Stawar, Ethan Cadena