Meet Preview: Marcus Coach T Inv. Loaded With Ranked Teams

Marcus senior Parker Noffz competes at the 2023 Marcus Coach T Inv.

The 2024 Marcus Coach T Invitational will be a telling event. Some of the best teams in Texas will compete across the different divisions. Oh yeah, one of Oklahoma's top teams will also be competing in Denton.

There are 13 CCCAT Top 10 ranked teams across the UIL's six classifications competing in the girls races and ten on the boys side.

The Oklahoma OSSAA 4A boys runner-ups Cache was able to get a 5K race under their belt last week at the Deer Creek Field Run Festival and based on the results, they'll definitely mix it up well with the Texas teams.

Girls Team Preview

The Elite Girls division will give the state their first glimpse at a full strength Flower Mound squad.

The four-time UIL 6A state champs have Alexandra Fox, Ava Cole, and Adeline Bennett entered to run. We'll get to see how good the Jags look in their first race.

Elite Girls Indiv. Virtual Meet

Elite Girls Team Virtual Meet

Cole ran 10:50 to win the Southlake Carroll 2 mile last weekend and Adeline Bennett ran 11:15 on grass two weeks ago at the Southlake Carroll 2 mile.

Top ranked 5A girls squad Lovejoy will race their first 5,000m. The back-to-back-to-back champs have a challenge to hold off Aledo, Highland Park, and other top 5A girls squads taking aim at the 5A girls crown.

Northwest Nelson is another strong team competing this weekend. However, based on a look at the entry list, it doesn't look like the top seven runners are competing for the No. 3 ranked team. Additionally, the No. 2 ranked UIL 6A girls team Southlake Carroll will not run their top seven girls, but they do have a team of Dragons scheduled to race. 

Back to packing the meet with top teams that will compete and that takes us to the second ranked 5A girls team Aledo. Last year's 5A runner-ups ran exceptionally well at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational when they ran a 18:56 team average.

At the same Waxahachie race, the No. 4 ranked 5A girls team Highland Park ran 19:10 and the No. 3 ranked 5A team in Colleyville Heritage ran 20:01 for second and third place behind Aledo. Both teams will be at the Marcus Coach T Inv.

Other talented team competing in the elite girls 5K race will be the No. 7 ranked 4A girls squad Decatur, the No. 8 and No. 9 ranked 6A teams Keller, and  Austin Vandegrift.

Girls Individual Preview

So far this season, it is Maya Easterwood who is already on a hot start to this season. The Coppell sophomore ran 17:10 at Waxahachie. The South Lakes Park course is a historical and legitimate course and the distance of it is irrefutable. We will know how Easterwood measures up where some of Texas' best ever have also competed.

Expect Denton Braswell junior Macy Wingard to get her season started on a high note. The reigning defending UIL 6A individual state champ has a 16:57 PR heading into the season and is coming off her first NXN qualification in 2023.

Macy Wingard runs on the levee at the finish of the 2023 Marcus Coach T Inv.

There is intrigue around the Flower Mound trio. Fox has been one of the best runners in the state for three years and her teammates Cole and Bennett help to form Flower Mound's new big three. 

Camryn Benson (Lovejoy) is the top returner on team and the second best 5A girl returner from last year's state met behind Elizabeth Leachman. 

Other runners who could be front runners are Clare Boneau (Keller), Molly Garrison (Aledo), Tibbie Mustacchia (Vandegrift) and Meredith Wolfe (Round Rock).

The boys race will be equally as impressive as the girls division. The top seven runners for No. 1 ranked 6A boys Carroll, No. 1 Lovejoy, and No. 7 Northwest Nelson won't race this weekend.

Despite not running the "A-squads", Carroll and Lovejoy will still roll out quality teams that will challenge in the race.

Carroll has three entries with 16:13 to 16:33 and a 16:50 performance. All seven of Lovejoy's entries include times from 16:07 to 16:49.

Of the teams who will field their top seven runners will be UIL 6A No. 3 ranked Austin Vandegrift and No. 10 Coppell. Top ranked 5A teams include No. 4 Aledo, No. 6 Frisco Reedy, No. 8 College Station, and No. 9 Colleyville Heritage.

Vandegrift was last year's UIL 6A runner-up finishers and this year, they appear to have their sights on the top spot.

They competed at last week's Vista Ridge Invitational where they produced a 15:40 team average and only a 53-second split from runners 1-5.

Top three Vandy runners were Hudson Haley (15:13), Kai McCullough (15:28), and Collin Goodwin (15:39) all ran under 15:40.

Coppell, another one of 6A's best programs brings a sub 16-minute team average from a race this season into the weekend.

At the Waxahachie race, Coppell ran a 15:47 team average. Pranav Vegiraju went 14:59 to win and pace the squad. Teammates Rohit Kalpathy ran 15:45 and Grant O'Neal went 15:54 for a top three runners under 16-minutes.

Colleyville Heritage went 16:23 and Aledo ran a 16:29 team average at Waxahachie.

College Station raced at the Westlake Chaparral Invitational last weekend and they ran a 16:42 team average. We don't have 5K data for the 2024 Frisco Reedy team yet, but there is little doubt in anybody's mind they will be good this year.

One team most kids taking the starting line or spectating out on the course won't be familiar with Cache (OK).

Cach was last year's Oklahoma OSSAA 4A runner-up finishers. They do have a 5K under their belt this year with their run last week at the Deer Creek Field Run Festival.

They ran a team average of 17:08, which isn't bad to initiate the season. This weekend, things will double in terms of intensity.

Aleksandr Acuna won the 2023 Marcus Coach T Inv. in a time of 14:58

After leaving off with Cache in the team preview, we'll lead with them into the individual preview. 

Their top runners Zachary Williams and Ethan Jones were all-state performers last year in Oklahoma. Williams finished fifth and Jones was 13th.

Last week at Deer Creek, Williams, a senior won the race in 15:21 with sophomore Jones finishing in 15:54.

The Vandegrift trio (Haley, McCullough, and Goodwin) will all be at the front of the race. Expect to see them kicking up gravel as they haul it down the South Lakes Park levee towards the finish line.

Vandegrift runners close races perhaps better than any team in Texas.

Haley is the returning runner-up from last year's 6A state meet.

Vegiraju (Coppell) ran his 14:59 PR a couple of weeks at at Waxahachie. He will get to put his PR and additional weeks of additional fitness against history of a course that has hosted many of Texas' best ever runners.

One runner familiar with the course is Denton Braswell senior Aleksandr Acuna. He had a great junior season that included two sub 15-minute races (14:50 and 14:58), one of them was on this very course. Acuna finished the year sixth at the 6A state meet.

One more familiar top runner is Joaquin De La Cruz (McKinney Boyd). He is another really good runner who will compete this weekend. De La Cruz ran a 15:08 PR early last year and finished the season well with a 16th place finish at the state meet.

On the track, it was De La Cruz pressing the issue further. He ran 1:59, 4:09, and 9:02 PRs. His 4:09 earned him a bronze medal at the state meet.

There are three runners who might not be as well known who should be major players in this weekend's race.

Marco Cunningham (Waco Meyer) had an excellent season in 2023. He ran a early 15:33 PR and ended the season with a runner-up performance at the 2A state meet.

Salado senior Luke Anderson ran a 15:33 PR at his district meet. After winning Region 3-4A, he didn't have the race he would have liked at state and finished 26th. Anderson made up for during track season as he went 1:55, 4:13 (3rd at state), and 9:24.

Ruel Newberry was the kid many in the DFW knew was coming after his eighth grade season. He won the middle school 3K at the New Balance Nationals Outdoor meet with a 8:35 and lowered his PR to 8:34 at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

Well, his high school career is here as he competes at Denton Guyer and although he hasn't competed in a 5,000m race Newberry has made his mark already.

Newberry ran two two mile tune up races on grass. At the Plano ISD Invitational he ran 9:43 and then followed that up a week later 2ith a 9:19 at the Byron Nelson Cross Country Invitational.