Blake Bullard celebrates while crossing the finish line at the 2023 UIL 6A Cross Country State Championships
Coming in at the No. 6 spot in this year's 6A preseason preview is our second Southlake Carroll Dragon in the form of Blake Bullard. We rarely see a team possess so much talent that they feature two runners in the top four at the state meet, but that's exactly what Southlake Carroll had last season and that's exactly why Bullard is the second Dragon to be featured in this series.
Bullard marks another unique athlete to be featured in this series, as despite the clear talent he possesses, cross country and track aren't his primary sports. He's actually a world-class triathlete with a host of elite accolades that we'll explore later on in this article. Even though cross country isn't his primary focus (and doesn't really run track), Bullard has still carved out nothing short of an elite career that's made him a true difference-maker on several state championship teams.
So, let's dive into the fascinating career of Blake Bullard and explore his accomplishments, his impact on Southlake Carroll's hopes to win another state title, and what we can expect to see from him this fall.
As with many Southlake Carroll runners, Bullard came into high school with a higher starting point than most guys would at other programs. You can attribute this to either his exploits on the triathlon side or the fact that joining such a storied program demands a higher level of performance.
Photo Credit: Gabriel Nieland/MileSplit TX
But the bottom line is that Bullard came into high school ready to contribute. He had a very brief freshman season in the fall and spring where he only raced over 5000m three times in the fall. Despite the small number of races, he finished his freshman season with a personal best of 16:11.70.
Bullard would mirror this slim schedule in the spring where he'd only compete three times on the track. While it's hard to take anything noteworthy away from a three-race season, Bullard came away with a 3200m personal best of 9:52.45.
One may look at Bullard's freshman year and wonder how you could draw optimism or expectations from such a small sample size. However, my perspective is that performing this well when only given a slim number of opportunities brings even more excitement than if he'd had these same performances with double the number of races. This exhibited that Bullard could perform at a high level when called upon, which we'll soon see became a theme as his career went on.
Coming into his sophomore campaign, Bullard would be given many more chances to perform at a high level and he took advantage of them, to say the least. He opened up his season with a 48-second personal best at the Southlake Carroll XC Invite where he ran 15:23.88 to finish 12th. He then followed up this strong season opener with back-to-back mid-15:30s performances at the Marcus Coach T Invitational and the Chile Pepper Festival to place well for Southlake Carroll against strong multi-state competition.
Photo Credit: Gabriel Nieland/MileSplit TX
He'd have his best performance of the season at the UIL 6A-District 4 championship where he knocked another six seconds off his personal best to run 15:17.70 which earned him 6th. Bullard then went on to score key points for Southlake Carroll at the UIL Region 1A-6A Championship in Lubbock where he finished fifth overall and was the second-highest placing runner for the team.
In his first appearance at the state meet, Bullard would play a key role for Southlake Carroll's fourth straight state title by running 16:16.40 for 23rd in a race plagued by terrible conditions. Another important thing to note from Bullard's sophomore season is that he made his first NXN appearance with the team as a sophomore where he'd go on to run 16:41.20 in a race that seemingly never has good conditions.
Once again in the spring Bullard would only race twice, however, he made the most of his abbreviated track season by clocking a new personal best of 4:28.22 over 1600m.
Bullard then had a great 2023 triathlon season where he took two impressive victories at the 2023 Pleasant Prairie Junior Elite Cup and the 2023 Flatlands Junior Elite Cup. He'd go on to round out his impressive season by finishing the series on the podium in second place.
Heading into his junior cross country season, Bullard had proven himself as an elite athlete across two different sports which isn't something anyone can say. However, he'd have no time to rest as he'd be forced to play a key role in Southlake Carroll's efforts to secure a fifth straight state title. And played a key role he did as Bullard would go on to be the X-factor for the Dragons in yet another tightly contested season.
Bullard would open up his junior campaign over three miles at the Southlake #1 XC Invite which would go on to be a great representation of the state's elite talent as the 2023 season went on. Bullard would place 4th in an incredibly loaded field in a time of 14:34.50. He'd then compete over three miles again at the 42nd Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic where he'd run 14:31.20 to finish 41st in one of the country's best meets.
Photo Credit: Roderick Pernetter/MileSplit TX
Bullard didn't open up his season over 5000m until the last weekend of September, where he'd run a strong 15:31.80 at the Nike South Invitational to help Southlake Carroll take victory over some of the state's best teams. Even though he'd only run one 5000m up to this point, it was time for the championship season and Bullard was reliable per usual. He finished third at the district meet where he ran 15:12.10 and then followed this up by finishing thirteenth at the regional meet where he ran 15:41.90.
Heading into the state meet, Bullard was expected to be a key contributor again for the Dragons. However, he did much more than that and had the best performance of his career on the perfect day to do so.
Bullard fought at the front with teammate Caden Leonard for nearly the entire race and would ultimately come home to take fourth in a time of 15:09.40 and make the difference for Southlake Carroll in the battle for the team title. He truly had the perfect day on the perfect day and he wasn't done contributing to the team just yet.
He'd go on to play a pivotal role for the team at NXR where he ran another blazing fast 15:12.90 to secure 10th place. He then went on to compete at NXN for the second straight year where this time he ran 16:17.10 to finish 93rd.
Going into the spring, we didn't expect to see Bullard compete on the track and that's exactly what we got.
Instead, we saw him further showcase his elite talents as a triathlete and put together yet another impressive season. He'd compete in his first elite triathlon at the Americas Cup Barbados 2024 where he'd finish fifth in a time of 56:21. Bullard followed this up by winning the 2024 Texas Draft Legal Festival, the 2024 East Coast Triathlon Festival, the 2024 Pleasant Prairie Cup, and the 2024 Jenny Lee Cup.
Photo Credit: Bobby Reyes/MileSplit Co
Most recently, Bullard finished second at the 2024 Junior Elite Nationals where he also took home the overall series win. While the specific correlation between triathlon and cross-country performance isn't the most concrete thing, being this good at two different endurance sports is gonna set up Bullard to have a great 2024 season.
He's competing at the highest level under the most pressure across two different sports and not only is he competing but he's winning as well.
Look for him to be right at the front of Carroll's races with Caden Leonard this fall and I'd expect the two of them to form a highly effective 1-2 punch for the Dragons this fall.
While his athletic future may not be purely running-focused, Blake Bullard has proven himself not only as one of the state's best cross-country runners but also one of the nation's best young endurance athletes.
Look for him to contribute to another state title run this fall and keep an eye on the triathlon scene in the coming years as he'll surely feature prominently.
