The NXR South Championship races were as exciting as we thought they would be.
With the top runners across five southern state and various public and private school leagues going for it all, the level of running was excellent.
Now that it is over, we have ten stats that we think tell the story of the girls and boys championship races.
View them below.
2
Since the inception of the event in 2004, this year, Bentonville (AR) became only the second boys team to ever qualify for NXN (automatic or at large) out of the South Region.
They join the 2007 Rogers (AR) squad.
16:07, 16:32, Margin of victory 56 seconds
Elizabeth Leachman ran the fastest NXR South performance of all-time with her 16:07 win; won by 56 seconds.
Leachman ran two three mile races in the 15s (15:54 and 15:32). She had eight 5,000m races this year and only one was over 16:32. It was a 17:30 race.
Leachman won every race this year, except one when she was runner-up at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic, losing by mere 0.10 seconds.
NXR South was her closest margin of victory (56 seconds); every other race was won by over 1:11 including four races with margins of victory over 2:20.
5
Five boys ran 15:00 minutes or faster and 76 boys ran 16:00 and under.
Joseph Bariola (Lakeside, AR) - 14:52
Adam Burlison (Lubbock) - 14:54
Caden Leonard (Carroll) - 14:55
Danny Aidan Torres (Eastwood) - 14:57
Benjamin Montgomery (Bridgeland) -15:00
6
Six girls ran under 17:30 with 23 under 18-minutes
Southlake Carroll - 14, 15:10/25, 5, 34
Carroll qualified for it's 14th NXN trip
Won NXR South with a 15:10 team average and with only a 25 second split
All five Carroll scoring runners finished ahead of every team's second runner
Only scored 34 points in a regional championship race; less than state meet (48) and UIL Region 1-6A Championships (50)
Non-Texas Boys Teams
Four Non-Texas boys teams ran sub 16-minute team averages and three had sub 60 second splits.
2nd - Bentonville (AR) - 15:33 I 0:41
4th - Deer Creek (OK) - 15:51 I 0:51
5th - Brother Martin (LA) - 15:58 I 0:25
8th - Jesuit (LA) - 15:59 I 1:15
Non-Texas UIL Girls
Micaela Villarreal (San Antonio Antonian) was the first finisher who wasn't an Texas UIL runner. The junior finished in eighth place with a time of 17:45.
Aaliyah Joshua (Edmond Santa Fe (OK) was the top non-Texas UIL finisher. She Placed ninth with a time of 17:46.
Flower Mound - 17:55
Flower Mound ran a 17:55 team average.
Put their top three girls ahead of every other scoring team's first runner
Boys Team Stats
Eight boys teams ran 16-minute averages or faster
Top seven teams ran sub 60 splits (Carroll - .25, Bentonville - .41, Vandegrift - .51, Deer Creek (OK) - .58, Brother Martin (LA) - .25, El Paso Franklin - . 54, and College Park - .43)
Fourteen of the 21 Championship boys teams ran sub 60 second splits.
Girls Team Stats
Only four girls teams had splits of 60 seconds or better (2nd - Carroll - .47, 4th - The Woodlands - 60, 13th - Vandegrift - .52, and 14th - Kingwood - .50)