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On Saturday, the Byron Nelson XC Invitational was held and the two-mile race was a pretty telling sign.
It pitted some very talented boys individual against one another along with one of the best teams in the state.
On the girls side, it again was a duel between two teams who figure to battle it out for the Region 1-6A title and possibly an overall state title.
Boys Race
The boys race had Matthias Peterson and his Northwest Nelson squad who are both look to compete the UIL 6A state titles. Peterson is a legit contender for the individual title. His 8:55 3200m run last spring was one of Texas' best performances over that distance and amongst returners nestles him firmly in the individual title race.
As a team, Northwest Nelson is a contender as well. They are the No. 7 ranked team in the CCCAT Preseason Rankings. Seniors Peterson and Jason Wade both were individual state meet qualifiers last season and lead this squad. Junior Liam Bengtsson is fresh off a 1600m race at Southlake where he ran 4:15 last week.
The three of them went 9:27 (Peterson), 9:33.08 (Bengtsson), and 9:33.99 (Wade) to lead Nelson. Junior Jackson Bellm ran 9:51.75 and senior Chase Hope was close behind in 9:53.82 to round out their top five. That gave them an average of 9:40 and a 25-second split.
Peterson and Nelson got a push in this race from Ruel Newberry (Denton Guyer) as well as from the Flower Mound boys.
Newberry is legit and might run himself into individual title contention before too long. Just a freshman, he already ran 2:01, 4:36, and 8:35 (3K) before getting his Denton Guyer High School i.d. badge.
Saturday, he impressively clocked a 9:19 to top Peterson. Not only did he beat one of the DFW area's top racers, but he ran that time on a grass course.
While Flower Mound did not beat Nelson, they did show that they might be better than many think to begin the season. Senior Austin Lyda was their top runner in 9:49 with sophomores Joshua Shemi (9:52) and Hayes Iacomini in 9:58.
Gavin Blad and Joshua Pittner added 19:01 and 10:10 runs to give Flower Mound a 9:58 team average and only a 21 second split.
With over 1,600m left to run before they would equal a 5,000m race, you could assume the times might slow down and the split might increase, but this is a good sign for the Jaguars.
Girls Race
The Flower Mound girls have won four consecutive UIL 6A state titles. Attrition has filtered their talent level just a bit, but the Jaguars still have plenty on their roster to still be considered challengers.
They enter the season ranked No. 2 by the CCCAT and Byron Nelson is ranked No. 3. Both teams were competing without their top runners with Alexandra Fox (Flower Mound) and MJ Novelli (Northwest Nelson) both being held out.
Ava Cole won the event with an impressive 11:14 on a grass course and Adeline Bennett was only a few strides behind in 11:15. Liana Cluley-Garza (11:24), Keira Primer (11:29), and Eliana Rivera (11:51) all added sub 12-minute performances to help the team produce a 11:25 average and a 31-second split.
Reyna Heisserer was Nelsons' top runner and wasn't too far behind Cole and Bennett in 11:19. Elena Sather (11:31), Sammy Spicer (112:42), Talia Ramirez (11:50), Macie Peterman (12:14) and Emily Nelson (12:24) all helped produce a 11:43 team average and a 55-second split.
Cole, Bennet, and Heisserer could all be 17-low type of girls this fall and that will increase their team chancers of finishing on the podium in November.
Abigail Stucker (Keller Timber Creek) also had a great race with her time of 11:16. Her PR is only 18:59, but she already appears ahead of that pace.
