Photo of Sophia Bendet from the 2023 UIL XC State Championships
The first cross country meets of
the season started up this past weekend with some quality team and individual performances.
It looks to be another excellent season for cross country in the San Antonio
area and it would be surprising if there were not multiple individual state
champions and even team champions from the area.
No Letdowns from the Stars
A few of the best runners from last year hit the course this past weekend and showed that they had been putting in the work over the summer. Reagan's Gavin Chapa won the Tivy Antler Rust Buster 5K on Friday with an impressive run of 15:39 to win by nearly a minute. Meanwhile, Brennan's Zac Miller took gold at the NEISD Invitational in 16:40.46 on a tough 5K course. Last year, Chapa finished fourth and Miller was ninth in Region IV-6A and the two should battle for the Region title this year.
Last year, Sophia Bendet and Aubrey Milam of Randolph swept through the season and ended up first and fourth, respectively at the 3A State meet. They started this season on the right foot going 1-2 at the Floresville Invitational 1A-4A Division. Bendet covered the 2-mile course in 10:35.80 while Milam finished in 11:23.90.
In the Rankings
The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the preseason rankings:
3A Girls - Randolph (#7), Poth (#8)
3A Boys - Great Hearts Northern Oaks (#1), Lytle (#2), Randolph (#8)
4A Girls - Fredericksburg (#3), Davenport (#5)
5A Girls - Boerne Champion (#4)
5A Boys - Boerne Champion (#3), Alamo Heights (#7)
At the Floresville Invitational, the Randolph and Poth girls each lost to both Lytle and Cole. The Lytle boys showed that they will once again be going after a State title in 3A after taking first place in the 5A-6A division in Floresville where their top five runners all finished in the top-11. The Fredericksburg girls ran well at the Antler Rust Buster where Rilyn Grona took home gold medal honors. The Davenport girls took fifth place at the NEISD Invitational despite being the smallest school in the meet. The Alamo Heights boys took third place at the Antler Rust Buster.
On the Radar
A new year is always fun because you get to see who has been working hard in the off season. The teams and runners that got my attention this week were the Boerne boys, Central Catholic boys, Reagan girls and Brandeis girls as well as Kaden Cypert of Floresville, Kailyn Brunson of Brennan and Hannah Hood of Tivy.
The Boerne boys were not in the rankings this week, but I would expect that to change as they scored 33 points en route to winning the Antler Rust Buster over some quality teams like Reagan and Alamo Heights. Carsten Bain led the team with a 16:36 time and finished third overall, but their entire top 5 runners were separated by just 37 seconds. The Central Catholic boys won the 1A-4A division at the Floresville Invitational and had four runners finish in the top 20. They were led by Sergio Martinez in seventh place.
The Reagan girls had a tight pack getting their top 5 finishing within 31 seconds of each other. Theone Glosser and Ariana Stark took third and fourth, respectively at the Antler Rust Buster and the team finished with 33 points. The Brandeis girls took the title at the NEISD Invitational and they did not even have their best day. Violet Ostrowski finished seventh in the district last year but was only their fifth runner on Saturday and they still had enough to win. Ada Mathias led the team with a third-place finish.
Cypert is only a freshman, but that did not stop him from winning his home meet in a time of 17:20.54. He will be one to watch all season long. Brunson had a solid freshman season last year but has stepped up her game. She took gold at the NEISD Invitational in 19:51.49 as she out-raced some of the top runners in the area in Jade Perez of Clark, Kassia Kozarski of Steele and teammate Caila Lyons. Hood is someone who is consistently good and she appears ready for another strong season after finishing second in 20:10 at her home meet this past weekend.
Around the City
The Tivy Antler Rust Buster was the first official meet of the season. It was Boerne winning the boys title behind Carsten Bain, Aaron Garcia, Barrett Crofut, Jackson Temple and Valor Menn who all finished in the top 12. Reagan took second with 46 points thanks to the win by Gavin Chapa and a fifth-place finish by Samuel Ackerman. Alamo Heights was third behind top finisher Santiago Berenguer who finished in seventh place. Nick Maldonado of Madison and Derek Adams of Fredericksburg each finished in the top 5.
In the girls race it was all Reagan as Theone Glosser, Ariana Stark, Reese Sweatman, Paige Opaska and Addison Jackson tallied a total of 33 points while Boerne took second with 91 points. New Braunfels finished in third place without their top runner, Savanah Moya, competing. Rilyn Grona was the individual champion in 19:58 for Fredericksburg. Micah Monteleone of Alamo Heights and Jessie Waschek of SA Patriots took fifth and sixth, respectively.
The Lytle boys were the big story at the Floresville Invitational as they won the 5A-6A division with 34 points. Johnny Rey Alvarez, Bryan Montes-Rodriguez and Lucas Salazar all finished in the top six and they have a spread of 34 seconds among their top five runners. Medina Valley finished in second despite not having anyone finish in the top 10 thanks to a 32-second spread. San Antonio Christian took third place thanks to a victory by Adrian Rule in 16:58.04 and an eighth-place finish from Nathan Womack. Titus Gill of SA Home School Spartans was the individual runner-up in 17:09.96.
The Medina Valley girls won the 5A-6A girls division with 40 points. Reesa Lowell, Felicity Agee and Peyton Price all finished in the top 10. Host Floresville took third place behind Nora Felan's seventh-place finish. Freshman Emerald Aguirre impressed for Southside with a third-place finish in 21:37.28. Marshall's Hannah Dismukes, Alicia Galvez of Southwest Legacy and Aubrey Pew of East Central all finished in the top five.
In the Floresville boys 1A-4A division, Cole finished in second to Central Catholic behind a runner-up performance by Ilias Braxton. Cooper Warrick of Stockdale and Ian Lopez of BASIS Shavano each finished in the top five.
Despite getting the top two spots in the Floresville girls 1A-4A division, Randolph only finished in fifth place. Lytle took home the top trophy with 81 points. Frances Scotello was the only member of the team to finish in the top 10 as she grabbed sixth place. Cole took third as a team behind freshman Katherine Zinnante's seventh-place finish. Poth's Brooklyn Albert took third in 11:37.90 while Lilia Flo of Navarro was fourth.
Clemens won the NEISD Boys Invitational in a big meet that had 18 teams. Jayce Love took second in 17:20.40 while Timothy Lawson was seventh in 18:03.26 and they had four runners in the top 20. Brennan was second with Zac Miller taking the victory while Dionell Delgado and Saul Lopez finished in the top 20. Brandeis was third behind Devin Malesich's fourth-place finish. Aiden Adams of Clark will look to build upon a strong freshman season with a good start to 2024 with a third place finish.
The Brandeis girls took the NEISD Invitational team title with 63 points while Taft was second with 75 points. Brandeis had all five runners finish in the top 25 and were led by Ada Mathias in third with a time of 20:32.86. Taft put three runners in the top 15 led by Madeleine Farr's seventh-place finish. Churchill took third place and were led by freshman Kallie Van Prooyen who ran 20:48.74 and took sixth. Kailyn Brunson was the individual champion while Jade Perez was runner-up in 20:15.21, Kassia Kozarski was fourth and Caila Lyons was fifth.
What's Happening This Week
There will be more meets going on this weekend. SAISD is hosting a meet at Brooks City Base while Central Catholic, St. Mary's Hall, New Braunfels and Steele are all slated to host events on Saturday. Reagan is scheduled to travel to Vista Ridge on Friday.