6A Boys Preseason Team Preview: No. 9 Katy

Ryder Darcey cross the finish line at the 2023 UIL state meet

With the season just mere weeks away, we begin wrapping up our preseason team rankings for the 2024 season. We're in store for one of the most competitive and interesting team battles we've seen in the better part of a decade. This is largely due to the number of graduating seniors, but also because of the recent emergence of some teams we previously wouldn't have discussed very much.

One team that fits this description perfectly is Katy, a school renowned for its performances on the football field, but somewhat forgotten in recent years in regard to running. However, the emergence of last year's team that qualified for the state meet and ultimately finished ninth has brought the Tigers back into conversation. They had a solid team that made many Region 3 races interesting and they look primed to make another run this year.

Coming in at the #9 spot in this year's preseason rankings is our first Region 3 team of the bunch in the form of Katy.

Heading into the 2023 season, there was hardly any talk surrounding a Katy program that had been a bit starved for success on the grass. They'd produced several solid individual talents over the years, but their performance on the team spectrum hadn't been something that would've led us to believe they'd make the state meet. However, as the season went on the Tigers continually produced good results at competitive meets which forced their way into the conversation.

Their success in 2023 was due in large part to a great 1, 2, 3 combination formed by graduated senior David Kalwahali, Ryder Darcey, and Joshua Perez. These three routinely ran near the front of big races and gave Katy a shot against teams they weren't expected to compete against. The loss of Kalwahali isn't ideal for the Tigers, but returning two of their fastest guys from last year when the teams in their region have lost a lot more presents an exciting prospect for the emerging program.

Junior Ryder Darcey comes into this season slated to be Katy's top guy. Darcey is another one of those runners who comes into high school and immediately runs fast times. He ran 16:25 as a freshman and backed that up by running 4:28.68 over 1600m in the spring. Heading into his sophomore season Darcey looked primed for improvement as Katy's program began to emerge and that's exactly what happened.

He opened up his season with a strong performance over 3200m at the Kingwood Classmate Challenge which saw him run 38 seconds faster than his previous personal best in 9:50.26. Next, Darcey would open up his season over 5000m with a strong 16:07.20 performance at the Nike South Invitational which helped make Katy a team to watch at that point in the year. After Nike South, it was time for the championship season and Darcey would start it off strong by breaking the 16:00 barrier for the first time at the UIL 6A-District 19 meet where he ran 15:50.52 to finish fourth.

Next was perhaps the most important meet of the year for Katy at the UIL 2A-6A Region 3 Championship on a sneakily difficult Huntsville course. Katy was slated to qualify however nothing was set in stone as being slated to qualify and qualifying are two vastly different tasks. The Tigers would ultimately go on to finish in a comfortable second place, thanks in large part to Darcey having one of his better races of the year. He ran 15:58.76 to finish 18th overall and score critical points that allowed Katy to make the state meet easily.

Darcey would go on to run a new personal best of 15:48.60 at the state meet and he'd then follow this up with yet another sub-16:00 performance at NXR to round out a great sophomore season. Notably, Darcey would also impress on the track in the spring as he ran 4:20.20 over 1600m and 9:18.00 over 3200m. Darcey looks primed to take another big step this fall where he'll take on the task of leading this Katy team for the first time.

Coming in close behind Darcey is another key returner in the form of the aforementioned Joshua Perez. Throughout his career, Perez has molded himself into a very consistent cross-country guy and that's best reflected in the big steps he made in 2023. Perez would start his junior season at the Kingwood Classmate Challenge where he ran 9:39.32 to finish fourth overall in a time that's still his personal best over 3200m.

After this opener, Perez would start the season over 5000m at the Nike South Invitational where he didn't have his best race of the season but still ran 16:30.70 and scored key points for Katy. His best performance of the season would come two weeks later at the UIL 6A-District 19 meet where he broke the 16:00 barrier and ran 15:55.55 to finish eighth overall. Perez followed this up with another solid performance at regionals where he ran 16:08.56 to again score critical points for Katy at a big meet.

Perez would go on to close out his UIL season by running 16:02.80 at the state meet. He'd then compete two more times at NXR where he ran 16:13.80 and the RunningLane Cross Country Championships where he ran 16:25.50. Perez was super consistent in 2023 and if he can continue improving while replicating this consistency, he'll help Katy have the best 1-2 punch in Region 3 and give them a great shot at winning the region.

Outside of Darcey and Perez, Katy also returns a solid 3-4 combo in the form of junior Diego Mion and senior Evan Couture. Mion comes into the season with a personal best of 16:24.44 while Couture is close behind with a personal best of 16:28.50. Katy will need both of these guys to run near those times consistently if they want a shot at winning Region 3, but both of made consistent improvements throughout their careers and look set to play a pivotal role for Katy this fall.

Ranking these teams that fall in the 8-10 range is always difficult because many of them are so close together. There are several teams not far from Katy, however, I'm banking on Katy's championship experience to play a big role for them this year. They return two of their top three runners from last year's team and many of their guys have championship experience which should help them a ton.

Add onto this the fact that we look slated to have a weak Region 3 this year and it looks like the Tigers should have a route to the state meet and could even win the region. The emergence of this program is exciting for Region 3 and the greater Houston area and they've more than earned the recognition they're receiving. For now, Katy comes in at the #9 spot, and look out for them to make some noise in Region 3 this season.