6A Boys Preseason Preview: Aidan Torres

El Paso Eastwood senior Aidan Danny Torres competes at the 2023 UIL 6A Cross Country State Championships

We're back this week with the continuation of our 6A preseason preview.

Last week, we looked at last year's runner-up Hudson Haley and how he plays a key role in the fight for the individual crown and how that plays into his team's title hopes.

This week, we'll head out west to El Paso for the first time in this series and cover our third star senior in the form of Aidan Danny Torres from El Paso Eastwood.

Unlike some of the other runners featured in this series, Torres didn't come into high school and immediately jump into state title contention. In fact, it was quite the opposite as his journey to the top of the state's running scene has been gradual and it didn't always appear that Torres would reach the performance level he's currently at.

However, that's what's so beautifully interesting about our sport, runners can have such drastically different careers and progression timelines however they all end up competing neck and neck for the same state title.

As mentioned, Torres came into high school and had a much different start to his career than the others featured in this series. His season best as a freshman was 18:58.00 over 5000m and he then went on to run 5:05.89 and 11:08.81 over 1600m and 3200m in the spring.

While these are perfectly respectable times, they don't scream future state title contender and it feels like Torres and Coach McClain knew that as his coming progression showed his commitment to evolving from an average runner into one of the state's best.

Torres would make drastic improvements in his sophomore season, as he knocked over two minutes off his 5000m personal best, running 16:49.60 at the regional meet. He then mirrored this improvement in the spring where he knocked 68 seconds off his 3200m personal best and a further 28 seconds off his 1600m personal best.

These are impressive improvements regardless of what the initial times were, however, not breaking 11:00 and then running 9:50.35 less than a year later is what stands out in particular. Running 8.5 seconds per lap quicker in that little amount of time signals that there's so much more room for improvement and Torres showed us that and then some heading into his breakout junior campaign.

Going into his junior campaign, it's safe to say that Torres's margins of improvement were eye-catching, however, his personal bests normally would've pegged him as a depth piece on some of the state's better teams. But, what nobody saw coming was another 60+ second improvement that quickly made Torres a name to remember.

He opened up his junior season at the Trooper Twilight Invitational where he shocked everyone by running 15:28.90 to cruise to an easy victory, roughly 81 seconds faster than his previous personal best. He followed this mind-blowing improvement with another victory the following week at the San Elizario Invitational.

Torres followed up his incredible start to the season by announcing himself on the national scale at the famed Desert Twilight Invite in Gilbert, Arizona. He faced an array of tough competition across multiple states and fought incredibly hard at the front but ultimately came away with third place in a time of 15:11.80, putting him 1.5 seconds off the win. This performance not only marked yet another personal best for Torres but also showcased the caliber of runner he'd become nationally.

After putting on a show in Arizona, Torres returned to Texas and began the championship season where he finished second at the UIL 6A-District 1 meet. Then it was time for regionals in Lubbock and Torres yet again shined as he came away with second place in a region that's notoriously very competitive, only finishing behind the eventual state champion Caden Leonard.

Given his performances at this point in the season, Torres was expected to be a top-ten finisher at the state meet. While this was not the case heading into the season, he'd put together a fantastic season that not only labeled him as a consistent improver but also someone who performs under pressure and doesn't crack against the nation's best.

At the state meet, Torres had the best performance of his career up to that point as he ran a new personal best of 15:10.10 which saw him finish fifth and help El Paso Eastwood to another solid team result. He closed incredibly well over the home straight and went from ninth to fifth and that extra push for those vital positions is a huge factor in why he's coming into this season ranked at No. 4.

As with nearly all of the state's elite talent, the end of the UIL season didn't mark the end of Torres's season and he'd try his luck at qualifying for NXN at the NXR South Regional Championship. Going from finishing 59th at the regional meet and not sniffing the state meet to qualifying for NXN in just over a year seems impossible but that's exactly what Torres did.

NXR is a famously intimidating race as it not only combines every division of Texas running but also pulls from the surrounding states meaning there's an even wider range of competition to beat. That being said, Torres kept his cool as we'd come to expect and he ran a great race which ended in another huge personal best of 14:57.30 (on a course known for not being fast) and a 4th overall finish.

He'd go on to have yet another great race against a competitive field at NXN where he finished 44th in a time of 15:50.70 and put himself in the mix with the few who finished ahead of him at the state meet. This result goes to show how uncompromised commitment can make drastic improvements in this sport as in a year Torres had finished higher at NXN than he did at the UIL Regional meet the year before.

Heading into the spring, there were high expectations for Torres not just because of his performances in the fall, but also because of the sizable improvements he seemed to make each spring. He quickly started off his season with another one as he knocked 32 seconds off his previous 3200m personal best to run a smooth 9:26.98 which would go on to feel comparatively slow when compared with his later results.

He mirrored this improvement in the 1600m as well as lowered his personal best from 4:37.71 down to 4:25.14 to open up the season, but this also would feel comparatively slow as the season went on.

As the season progressed, Torres continued to improve steadily as he gradually lowered his personal bests. By the time the championship season started, he'd further lowered his 1600m personal best to 4:17.79 and his 3200m personal best to 9:10.91. While these improvements are striking and impressive, they'd soon be upstaged.

Torres takes a glimpse at the scoreboard at the UIL 6A State Track and Field Championships

Photo Credit: Christine Langford/MileSplit TX

Torres began his championship season by taking easy wins in both events at the district meet. Then came the regional meet and Region 1 yet again proved to be one of the nation's toughest fields as Torres ran a new personal best of 4:11.55 in the 1600m but didn't qualify. To go along with this, Torres also ran 9:00.99 in the 3200m but came third again and had to rely on the wild card spot to make it to the state meet.

It's not often that someone improves so much and runs so well but comes away with nothing to show for it and that was nearly the case for Torres. However, he'd been given a lifeline to the state meet and he wasn't going to waste it.

Torres put on yet another great showing on the big stage as he was able to come away with 4th place with a new sub-9:00 personal best in the form of an 8:57.50. This performance not only marked his best finish at a state meet but also completed one of the best one-year improvements we've ever seen. Torres had transformed himself from an above-average runner into one of the names to watch for the state title and that's nothing short of incredible.

Heading into this season, I think that it's reasonable to assume that while we may not see the same level of improvement we saw from him last year, we should still expect to see a better Aidan Torres. One interesting thing to note about last season is that he didn't race a ton before the championship season so I'd be interested to see if he replicates that this season since it worked well or if he tries to have a more active schedule.

While Torres may not have started his career amongst the best, he's certainly there now and it's through hard work and consistent dedication on the good days and the bad. I think we can expect to see him make a push for the podium this season and have an outside chance at winning the title if he has a good day on the right day. His true potential for this season remains to be seen, but for now, Aidan Torres comes in a well-earned No. 4 to begin the season.