Chapa is an interesting case in terms of his career as it took him longer to succeed on the grass than on the track. He's been a supreme track talent from the moment he entered high school, and that fact has been reflected in his results since day one. But his success on the grass was never a given, however, over the last two years he's matured into one of the state's best and most underrated distance talents.
That said, let's dive into Gavin Chapa's accolade-rich career and find out how he's gotten to this point and what we can expect to see from him in the fall.
As mentioned above, Chapa is another case of a unique career progression that we've seen throughout our coverage of this year's field. His freshman cross-country season didn't necessarily set the world on fire as he ran a seasonal best of 17:45.30 and didn't go further than the district meet.
However, his freshman track campaign did set the world on fire as he not only proved to be fast, but he demonstrated consistency and maturity in his racing. Chapa opened up his freshman track campaign with back-to-back mid-4:30s performances, times that are already great building blocks for a freshman.
As the season went on, Chapa continued to improve, and when his times improved so did his consistency. He ran under the 4:30 mark for the first time at the UIL 6A-District 28 meet where he finished fourth in a time of 4:29.26. He followed this up the next week where he made another improvement by running 4:27.68 at the area meet where he'd finish sixth.
Following the conclusion of his UIL season, Chapa raced three more times and improved his personal best in all three races. He ran 4:26.70 at the Schrader 1600m, 4:26.24 the following week at the Antonian Mile and Steeple, and then rounded out his season with yet another personal best in the form of a 4:25.42 at the TTFCA Meet of Champions.
Another impressive part of Chapa's freshman campaign were his performances over 800m. He broke the 2:00 barrier multiple times and finished the season with a personal best of 1:58.88 to round off an incredible freshman campaign.
Given his impressive improvement from the fall to the spring in his freshman campaign, there was a lot of intrigue to see if Chapa could replicate this heading into the fall. And that's exactly what he did as he opened up his sophomore season with a monster 15:36.38 personal best, a 129-second improvement over his previous personal best. Chapa would go on to run even faster a few weeks later at the Seguin Matador Invitational where he'd run 15:25.28 to take home his first win of the season.
Heading into the 2022 championship season, Chapa looked poised for a deep run and a qualification to Round Rock. He'd more than replicated his improvement from the previous year and it was time for the part of the season that meant much more than anything else. He had a strong showing at the UIL 6A-District 28 meet where he ran 15:39.30 to take home third place, a three-minute improvement from the previous year.
Next up was the UIL 2A-6A Region 4 Championship where Chapa would impress in his first regionals appearance, running 16:08.11 to take him fifth place and his first state meet qualification.
Heading into the 2022 state meet, it was hard to get a read on where Chapa would finish. The conditions were horrible and Region 4 isn't seen as one of the state's stronger regions, so Chapa was a bit of a question mark heading into Round Rock.
Despite his regional status and the horrible conditions Chapa had a good showing and would go on to finish 25th at his first state meet in a time of 16:17.80. This finish marked yet another impressive accolade in Chapa's young career and only set him up for further improvement in the spring.
Once the spring rolled around, Chapa looked poised to start the UIL season off hot and that's exactly what he did. He ran an impressive 1:56.41 and 4:20.09 double at the Smithson Valley Ranger Relays in early March. He strung together an array of impressive performances before the championship season including a 9:41.20 3200m personal best and another 4:20 performance in the form of a 4:20.89 at the Canyon Cougar Relays.
By now it was time for the district meet and Chapa kicked off his championship season with another great 800m/1600m double which saw him run 1:55.02 and 4:20.65 to finish third and second respectively. He'd follow this up the next week at area by qualifying for regionals in the 1600m thanks to a 4:21.85 performance which earned him third place. At regionals, Chapa had yet another good and consistent race, but just missed out on qualifying for the state meet as he finished fourth in a time of 4:20.85
Normally, this would be the end of the season for most people but Chapa still wanted to give it another try and it paid off big time. First, he scored a huge 3200m personal best at the TTFCA Meet of Champions where he ran 9:21.68 to finish fifth overall. He then followed this up with a huge 4:15.04 1600m personal best which won him the RunningLane Track Championships. Chapa had already had a great season up to this point, but these two huge performances further solidified him as one of the state's best upcoming talents heading into the fall.
Heading into the 2023 season, Chapa had found his way onto a lot of people's radars as his combination of a good placement at last year's state meet and his incredible spring season made him a name to watch. While Chapa didn't necessarily lower his personal best by a huge margin, consistency proved to be key for his 2023 campaign as it allowed him to work his way into the performances he'd go on to have later in the season.
Every race in his 2023 season ended between 15:20 and 15:47, making him one of the most consistent and reliable runners in the field. His best performance of the season came at the UIL State Championship where he ran 15:20.10 to round out the top-ten finishers in Round Rock. This gave him his first piece of hardware to take home from a major cross-country meet and also gave him another launchpad to take to further accomplishments in the spring.
Up to this point in his career, Chapa had primarily focused on the 800m and 1600m. It was clear through his performances on the grass that he could perform well over 3200m, he'd just never tried it consistently. However, the 2024 track season saw Chapa take on significantly more racing as he chose to run the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m. This is not only an impressive feat but it's also incredibly taxing on one's body as these are all very difficult races for very different reasons.
However, Chapa knocked it out of the park and went on to have arguably one of the best track seasons we saw this year. He ran a personal best of 1:52.63 in the 800m and could've qualified for the state meet had he chosen to contest it at regionals. Additionally, Chapa also had incredible performances in the 1600m and 3200m. He ran 4:09.64 and finished second at the state meet behind Caden Leonard while also running 9:08.40 that morning to finish sixth in the 3200m.
After the UIL season concluded, Chapa would go on to run further personal bests in the 1600m and 3200m as he ran 4:09.11 and 9:06.94 respectively to close out yet another incredible track season.
Heading into this cross-country season, Chapa has cemented himself as one of the state's best runners and the guy with the most range. He currently holds personal bests of 1:52.63 over 800m, 4:09.11 over 1600m, 9:06.94 over 3200m, and 15:20.10 over 5000m. He also holds a top-ten finish at last year's state meet and a silver medal from this year's 1600m. Chapa has improved drastically each year on the track and marginally on the grass, however, I think we're going to see him make a big jump this fall.
He already has a great base to work with and when you factor in the confidence and experience he's built over this last track season, I think he's a real sleeper to watch this year. Be sure to watch his results closely as the season goes on as I believe he could surprise a lot of people once November rolls around. For now, Gavin Chapa comes in at No. 8 in our preseason rankings but don't be surprised if he ends up much higher when it's all said and done.
