Bridgeland's Kyle Pawlak (968) finishes at the 2023 Nike South Inv.
With the season ramping up into full swing over the last week, many of the state's top teams have given us an initial look at their lineups for 2024. The beginning of the season is always one of the more exciting moments in cross-country as we get to see how teams have improved from the previous year.
This is important with the top teams in particular as depth almost always makes the difference between winning the state title and not even finishing on the podium in November. By now we're all familiar with the state's top individual runners, such as Caden Leonard, Benjamin Montgomery, Hudson Haley, and many more who have already proven themselves to be the elite of the elite.
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However, while these are the guys that score the big points at the front, it doesn't matter if the rest of the team doesn't pull their weight. Oftentimes, the guys in the 3-5 spots are the ones that make the difference between winning and losing in such a tightly contested field. With that being said, today we're going to take a look at four runners who are going to be integral to their team's success this fall (in no particular order).
1. Griffin Cords- Southlake Carroll
Starting this list of guys that will be integral to their team's success is the defending state champion Southlake Carroll's projected #3 runner Griffin Cords. Throughout his career, Cords has been a solid depth guy for the Dragons and he'll look to play a bigger role for Carroll as they face another year of tough challengers to their dominance.
Cords comes into his senior year this year and looks to build on what was sort of a breakout season for him in 2023. The building blocks for Cords's recent success started to form in the 2022 cross-country season where we saw him dip under the 16:00 mark for the first time in 15:58.10 at the difficult Chile Pepper Festival. He also had another standout performance at the Teams South Regional Championship where he ran 16:04.30 to finish fifth as a sophomore.
Cords would follow his solid effort in the fall with further improvement on the track in the spring. He ran 4:30.58 over 1600m and paired this with a 9:50.18 3200m to close out a solid sophomore effort that he'd look to build on heading into the fall and that's exactly what he did. Cords opened his 2023 campaign with a big 15:41.60 personal best at the Nike South Invitational and followed this up with another sub-16 performance at the UIL 6A-District 4 meet in the form of a 15:50.30.
He'd play a solid depth role for the Dragons as they went on to claim their fifth consecutive state title, a race where Cords finished 41st overall in 15:53.50. His best performance of the season came at the NXR South Regional Championship where he ran a huge 15:21.60 personal best to help Southlake Carroll qualify for NXN where Cords would go on to finish 69th.
While Cords made big steps in the fall, he'd take an even bigger one in the spring. He consistently ran in the 9:10s over 3200m and capped off the season with a personal best of 9:07.54. Pair this with the 4:19.33 personal best he set over 1600m and Cords looked prime to step into a big points-scoring role for the Dragons this fall.
Most recently, Cords opened up his 2024 cross-country season with a 9:20.65 3200m effort which came on the track. This provides him with a great starting point to help Carroll in what's going to be a pivotal spot for them. The state title is likely to be won in the third through fifth spot and Cords will provide the Dragons with the best all-around #3 guy. Look for him to mix it up at the front of some races, and if he can minimize the gap to Caden Leonard it'll be a lot hard to take the fight to Southlake Carroll for the state's other top teams.
2. Kyle Pawlak- Bridgeland
Sliding into the second spot on this list is our second projected #3 runner on one of the state's top three teams in the form of Bridgeland's Kyle Pawlak. Pawlak is a guy who's played a solid role for Bridgeland since his arrival into the program in 2022, however, this year will provide him the opportunity to play his biggest role as the Bears push into the upper echelon of the 6A division.
Pawlak comes into his junior season this year having already featured prominently in a Bridgeland lineup that's continually evolved over the last few years. He got the rare opportunity to run at the state meet his freshman year while also dipping under the 10:00 mark in the 2 mile in the form of a 9:50.65 which came at New Balance Nationals. Pawlak took clear advantage of his opportunities in his first year and they only served to help him as his career has gone on.
Bridgeland came into the 2023 season with the best team in the school's history up to that point, meaning Pawlak was expected to contribute and that's exactly what he did. He had several strong performances including a ninth-place finish at the Texas A&M Invitational and a top-twenty finish at the UIL 2A-6A Region 2 Championship, both of which saw him score big points for the team. His best race of the season came at the NXR South Regional Championship where he ran his current personal best of 16:02.10 in a great race.
Heading into the spring, Pawlak had built some momentum for himself and he immediately capitalized on it. He opened up his season with a fifteen-second personal best in the form of a 9:44.72 at the Dan Green Invitational. Pawlak would then go on to drop another nine seconds the following week at the Sam Mosley Relays where he ran 9:35.67 to finish 8th in a fast race. He'd later go on to qualify for regionals in the 3200m as a sophomore, giving himself a great foundation to start the 2024 cross-country season.
Most recently, Pawlak has already taken advantage of this strong foundation as he ran 9:35.98 at Bridgeland's Midnight Deuce to start the year. This mark is only 0.31 seconds off his personal best and came solely off base training which signals Pawlak is in for a big year this year.
Bridgeland currently sits at #3 in my preseason rankings and #2 in the first CCCAT poll meaning the running world has big expectations for the Bears. Much like Southlake Carroll, Bridgeland has a proven 1-2 punch so their depth guys will likely determine how far they go this fall. Pawlak looks to be the best of Bridgeland's tightly packed group and if he continues on his current trajectory, he could push for the #2 spot and make a big difference for this talented Bridgeland team.
3. Collin Goodwin- Austin Vandegrift
Coming in at the #3 spot is the first of two Austin Vandegrift runners on this list in the form of sophomore Collin Goodwin. While Goodwin may be the youngest guy on this list with the smallest sample size, he's still expected to play a big role on one of the state's best teams. While this comes with pressure, it says more about how talented Goodwin is than anything as he'll look to help Vandegrift finally reach the top step of the podium.
Goodwin came into a state title-contending Vandegrift team last year and immediately made a case to be the next great talent to come out of that program. His first big performance of the season came at the 42nd Annual Woodbridge Cross Country Classic where he ran 15:10.60 over three miles. He followed this up the following week with an impressive 15:54.20 on a difficult course at the HOKA/McNeil Invite and set himself up incredibly well for the championship season.
Next, Goodwin would run his current personal best of 15:38.00 at the UIL 6A-District 25 championship before finishing in the top twenty at regionals soon after. He arguably had his best race of the season at the state meet where he ran 15:47.90 and finished 33rd overall as a freshman. Additionally, Goodwin also impressed at NXR where he ran under the 16:00 mark yet again in the form of a 15:43.50.
Heading into the spring, Goodwin had already impressed more than any freshman is ever expected to. However, he'd go on to further demonstrate his talent and consistency on the track. He regularly ran in the 9:20s over 3200m, coming away from the season with a personal best of 9:25.01 which he set at the Texas A&M Invitational. Goodwin would also run 4:28.35 over 1600m which not only further added to his resume, but also gave him yet another great performance to build momentum from.
Goodwin opened up his season last weekend at the Vista Ridge Cross Country Invitational where he ran 15:39.30 to finish third behind two of his teammates. While he'll likely function as the #3 runner for most of the season, he's still going to play a pivotal role for Vandegrift given the makeup of the team race this season. Look for him to continue improving as the season goes on and potentially push for the #2 spot if he keeps building his momentum, and remember to keep up with him as he's still only a sophomore.
4. Yannick Broos- College Park
Coming into the fourth spot on this list is the projected #2 runner on another one of the state's top teams in College Park's Yannick Broos. Broos comes into his junior season with a lot of momentum from a great sophomore campaign that will surely see him take a big step for the Cavaliers this fall.
While it's difficult to make direct comparisons between the runners on this list, I'd say that Broos is fairly similar to Goodwin in that they've both shown to be exceptionally talented even with a small sample size. Broos had a very brief 2023 cross-country season as he only raced over 5000m four times, however, that was more than enough races to showcase why he deserves to be one of the top runners on the state's projected #4 team.
Broos opened up his 2023 championship season at the UIL 6A-District 4 meet where he'd finish fourth and play his usual role of scoring big points for College Park. He'd follow this up with another solid performance the following week at the UIL 2A-6A Region 2 Championship where he ran 16:12.83 in horrible conditions to finish 17th overall and help the Cavaliers qualify for the state meet.
Up to this point, Broos hadn't raced a ton however he'd raced well considering the relative inexperience he had over 5000m throughout the season. That being said, he picked the perfect day to have his best day as he ran a huge personal best of 15:55.10 to finish 43rd overall at the state meet. Additionally, Broos's performance also helped College Park jump several talented teams to finish fifth in the team race. Broos would go on to round out his season at NXR where he lowered his personal best a further 11 seconds down to 15:44.70 in a race where he finished in the top-fifty.
Although he had a relatively short season in the fall, Broos still provided ample evidence as to why he could continue his improvement and that's exactly what he did. In another short season, Broos still managed to thoroughly impress as he came away with personal bests of 4:16.74 over 1600m and 9:26.70 over 3200m. These performances showcased his continued evolution into an elite distance runner which is why we should see him play a pivotal role for College Park this fall.
The thing College Park lacks on paper when compared to Southlake Carroll, Vandegrift, and Bridgeland is a guy in the #2 spot with a proven individual state qualification pedigree. However, if Broos is given the opportunity to race more, he looks to be a guy who can fill that void and properly elevate College Park into the podium conversation this fall.