The Lucas Lovejoy boys righted the ship last year and ran their way back to the top of the heap in the Texas UIL 5A cross country world. For years, they were the gold standard of the classification until a couple of years when they finished lower on the podium than they were accustomed to.
Last year, they ascended back to the top of 5A and reclaimed their top spot when they finished first overall as a team. The route back was foreseen and it was actually planned and strategized. Let's be real, it was only just a matter of time until a Logan Kelly coached squad would make the developmental strides to reign once again.
For many, winning a state title is the arrival of reaching their aspirations, but for the Lovejoy program, it was merely balm for the ache of not finishing on top and where doing so more of an expectation than an aspiration.
To accomplish the 2023 win, Lovejoy ran a team race that was not only unbeatable by the other 5A teams in the race, but would have been difficult for any team in Texas to beat.
They ran a 15:56 team average and a 0.38 second deviation from the first to final scoring runner. Their 56 point team score was nearly half of that by runner-up Georgetown's 109.
In 2022, Grapevine also only scored 56 points and went for a 15:59 average with a 1:15 split.
The expectations for the 2024 season and the No. 1 ranking is due to the mere fact that Lovejoy returns six of the seven runners who competed in last year's Round Rock race.
Only their top state meet scorer Nick Yarad graduated and that brings the two through six runners back from that race where they ran a 34 second split between them.
To begin the year, senior Caden Gary looks to secure the leading spot for the Leopards. He was 14th overall at the state meet with his 15:46 result. However, he began last season with a blazing 15:09 Southlake #1 XC Invite and then seven second 5K personal best when he ran 15:28 Lovejoy XC Fall Festival.
Gary's six sub 16:00 races showed his dedication to the 5K, but perhaps where the excitement to his potential this year was his breakthrough on the track. He was just as focused in improving his speed; four personal bests last year serve as evidence.
His marks in the four longest races on the track produced 53.17, 1:53.15, 4:07.17, and an impressive 9:06.03 before focusing on the 1,600m in the latter stage of the season.
Incoming junior Joseph Reid was the No. 3 runner on the team from the state meet. He ran 15:56 for an overall placement of 22nd.
He began 2023 with two big runs of 15:45 at Southlake No. 1 and then 15:37 at Lovejoy. Reid is slated to be another key runner and dependable scorer after watching his track season results. With personal bests of 4:28 and 9:36, he will be key to doing his part in making Lovejoy push to be the best team in the state.
Aaron Wimbish will be another key runner on this squad. He is the epitome of what Lovejoy had planned in terms of development and becoming a fitting piece of the championship run.
Entering as a mid eighteen-minute to nineteen-minute 5K runner as a freshman he had dropped to 16:59 sophomore year and then began with a 15:46 at Southlake and 16:00 at his home meet. Wimbish's 16:15 at state wasn't his best performance, but it put him in the No. 4 scoring position in Round Rock.
After personal bests of 1:57, 4:31, and 9:32 on the track this past spring, if Wimbish takes yet another jump in development on the grass this could be an epic season even for Lovejoy's standards.
Senior Devin Muaina was the sixth runner to cross the line at last year's state meet for Lovejoy and was only five seconds behind Wimbish with a time of 16:20.
While he was only able to improve from 16:04 to 16:02 from his sophomore to junior seasons, he did start out with a 15:42 at Southlake and then the 16:02 at the Lovejoy Inv.
Where Muaina did improve was the 800m this past track season. It was absolutely ridiculous how much time he dropped in the 2024 track and field season. He ran 2:11 as a sophomore and then went 2:07 as a junior. However, last year, Muaina ran as fast as a 1:53.71 for for a 14-second drop in one year at the UIL 5A Region 2 | 6A Region Championships to qualify for the state track meet.
If Muaina keeps it sizzling on the grass like he did on the track, Lovejoy will be even more spectacular, but could even challenge the 6A teams when NXR South rolls around.
So far, only four runners have been mentioned for Lovejoy, but everyone knows that five are need to score. The next runner expected to make the top five isn't really a No. 5 runner.
William Carlson enters the season with the fifth best returning time from the Lovejoy's 2023 campaign after running a 16:03 SB last year. In Round Rock he placed 27th overall and was the fourth scorer to help them earn the state title.
However, as a sophomore in 2022, Carlson finished 15th overall at the state meet with a time of 15:58 to lead Lovejoy in their runner-up team finish. Carlson ran faster at every course in 2022 than he did when he ran on them in 2023.
During track season, he was able to get back in his groove. He PRed in the 400m with a 53.33, but also in the 1,600m with at time of 4:17.35. Adding another 4:17.51 at the UIL 5A Region 2 track meet allowed him to qualify for the state track meet where he finished ninth overall.
If Carlson regains the type of form that led him to be the team's No. 1 runner, and produce 9:20 and 15:30, the Lovejoy Leopards could be incredibly difficult to beat. Even if he doesn't reach those levels this season, Lovejoy still receives our nod with the preseason No. 1 ranking in 5A.