Hannah Stuart and Cadence Patterson battled it out for the 2024 UIL 4a 3,200m state championship
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Coming in Hannah Stuart was the defending champion and 4A record holder with a time of 10:30.12.
Things were bunched up pretty tight through the first lap with Stuart a senior from Canyon came along the outside at the first 200m, but crossing the first 400m mark Cadence Patterson a senior from Comal Canyon Lake edged out Stuart coming through almost side by side with a 1:20.78 and 1:20.81 respectively.
Patterson hung onto the lead with Stuart still on her outside shoulder, not much movement through two laps, everyone stayed bunched up. At the half-mile mark Patterson and Stuart were still battling it out.
Four pulled away from the pack and Stuart moved to the inside and crossed the 1200m mark with a 4:06 and Patterson a mere 10 seconds behind. Ann Claire Cop, a senior from Fredericksburg came across in third.
At 1600 Stuart and Patterson pulled away from everyone else running a solid pace with Cop still hanging onto third.
Stuart pulled ahead at 2000m with a 6:45 but Patterson wasn't going to concede the race just yet with a 6:46. Liana Navarro, a senior from LaFeria moved into 3rd place with a 6:55.
Battling it out with two laps to go and they were neck and neck, Patterson tried to pass her with 600m to go but Stuart held strong. Patterson took the lead with 500 to go and then Stuart took it right back at the bell lap with 400 to go with mere seconds separating them.
With 200 to go Stuart turned on the jets and smoked the rest of the competition finishing in 1st place with a 10:36, Patterson captured the silver with a 10:47 and Navarro finished in 3rd place with 11:06.
