Photo of Isabella Porter of Johnson
It was a full slate this past weekend in San Antonio with a few big meets going on as well as some other smaller meets. Elizabeth Leachman made her first appearance of the season and reasserted herself as the top runner in the State by running the fastest 5K in Texas while the Smithson Valley girls showed that they could be one of the top teams in the State after entering the season unranked. The season is taking shape and the San Antonio area has been on fire on the trails this year.
Top Team Performances of the Week
There were a few teams that really stood out this week for their performance this week. The first on the list is the aforementioned Smithson Valley girls who went to the 21-team Westlake Chaparral Invitational without their top runner, two-time State qualifier Mia Perez. The Rangers had four freshmen lead the way and all five of their runners broke 20 minutes and finished in the top-12 as they knocked off the #5 and #6 ranked teams in 5A en route to the win.
On a fast 3-mile course, the Clemens boys looked strong in winning the SCUC Invitational at Steele High School. They scored 30 points in the win and Jayce Love was the individual champion in a 10-team meet. Similarly, the Johnson boys easily won the New Braunfels Unicorn Invitational running a 2-mile race where they had five runners in the top-11.
Finally, at the SAISD Invitational at Brooks City Base, the Brennan boys and girls nearly matched each other point-for-point as they both easily won their meets. Zachary Miller won the boys 5K in 15:13.20 while Kailyn Brunson won the girls 5K in 18:01.20 and each team had three runners in the top-10.
In the Rankings
The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the regular season poll #1 rankings:
3A Girls - Randolph (#7), Poth (#9)
3A Boys - Great Hearts Northern Oaks (#1), Lytle (#2), Randolph (#8)
4A Girls - Fredericksburg (#3), Davenport (#5)
5A Girls - Boerne Champion (#6)
5A Boys - Boerne Champion (#2), Alamo Heights (#10)
The Randolph girls finished fifth at the New Braunfels Unicorn Invitational while Sophia Bendet won the individual race in 10:40.13 for the 2-mile course. The Poth girls only had four runners at the Karnes City Invitational but Brooklyn Albert and Katelyn Poth took the top two spots.
Northern Oaks has yet to compete while Lytle only ran four at the SCUC Invitational and all four finished in the top-20. Randolph boys only ran four runners at New Braunfels.
The Fredericksburg girls were off while the Davenport girls ran well at New Braunfels taking third place behind a pair of 6A schools. The Boerne Champion girls nabbed second place at the Westlake Chaparral meet and had all five runners in the top-20 while the BC boys took home the gold at the same meet.
No Collision Course
It is unfortunate that the two of the best runners in the entire State and probably even the nation will not get to face each other. Elizabeth Leachman of Boerne Champion and Sophia Bendet of Randolph are both cross country State champions and multi-time track and field State champions in the distance events but because they are in two separate classifications it is unlikely that they will meet during the season. Leachman runs at the 5A level where they run 5K championship races while Bendet runs at the 3A level where they run 2-mile championship races. The two currently hold the top times in the nation at their respective distances. Both will be heavy favorites to repeat as State champions this year.
Around the City
The Vista Ridge Invitational featured six local girls teams and seven local boys teams. In the girls 5K division, Reagan was the top local team finishing in third place out of 23 teams with four individuals finishing in the top-25 and they boasted a 1-5 spread of 0:52. Ariana Stark was their top individual. Canyon finished a close fifth place and it was Madi Molinar's 13th place finish that was best among San Antonio runners. The girls 2-mile division featured Comfort's Ella Thiele who nabbed an 8th place finish and Blanco took fifth place out of 11 teams.
In the VR boys 5A-6A division, Sotomayor was the top local team taking seventh place out of 24 teams. Paul Wallace was their top finisher taking 20th in 16:55.20, right behind Reagan freshman Logan Martinez who took 19th place. Reagan finished in ninth, but their top two runners did not compete. In the 1A-4A boys, Comfort finished in sixth place out of 10 teams while Blanco's Sebastian Galvan finished in 13th place in a time of 18:47.80.
The Westlake Chaparral Invitational was a coming out party for the Smithson Valley girls. They tallied 39 points to win a meet that had 21 teams including #5 A&M Consolidated and #6 Boerne Champion. The SV quintet of Brady Solansky (2nd, 18:13.3), Skyler Fonseca (6th, 19:15.5), Lilly Koenig (9th, 19:39.5), Aubrey Pozzi (10th, 19:45.7) and Addison Knibbe (12th, 19:52.8) all finished in the top-12 and only Koenig is not a freshman. BC was the strong runner-up behind Beth Leachman's victory in 16:32.5 which was nearly two seconds faster than she ran last year. Kynley Albright gave the Chargers a strong #2 runner as she finished in 8th place.
In the WCI boys race, Boerne Champion took home the trophy with 71 points. Charlie Houck led the win with an individual title in 15:36.2 over the 5K course against 29 teams. Caleb Dehart, Luis Tovar and Shawn Edwards all finished within the first 15 runners for the Chargers. Nicholas Maldonado of Madison ran another strong race taking 6th in 15:57.4 while Wells Peterson of TMI was right behind him in 7th.
At the SCUC Invitational hosted by Steele it was Brandeis edging out Taft for the team title in the girls 3-mile division that included nine teams. Brandeis had five runners finish in the top-14 and they were led by Ada Mathias who won the individual crown. Taft's Madeleine Farr and Adelyn Miller took 4th and 5th, respectively. Kassia Kozarski of the host team finished in the runner-up spot while Frances Scotello of Lytle finished in third place.
The boys SCUC 3-mile race had 10 teams and Clemens dominated the proceedings with a winning total of 30 points. Jayce Love won the individual title for them while Sean Gonzalez was 4th and Matthew Beatty took 10th. Boerne finished with 60 points thanks to Carsten Bain, Aaron Garcia and Valor Menn all finishing in the top-5. That was five points in front of Holmes who had to settle for third place. Jeremiah Rodriguez was their top finisher in 9th place. Lytle did not run a full squad, but all four of their competitors finished in the top-20.
The New Braunfels Unicorn Invitational featured a 2-mile course for both the girls and the boys. Sophia Bendet of Randolph won the individual title in 10:40.13 and her teammate, Aubrey Milam, finished 5th in a time of 11:36.15. Johnson won the team title behind Isabella Porter and Emily Krot who each finished in the top-10 and broke 12 minutes. Kallie Van Prooyen led Churchill to a second-place finish with her individual 7th place finish in 11:36.81. Davenport finished in third place in the 15-team race. The Latta family had a great meet with Elin, Iris, Remy and Reese all finishing in the top-10 for the South Texas Heat Home School team.
The Johnson boys matched their girls team with a title as they tallied 39 points despite missing two varsity runners for the race. Michael Repper-Molina was the individual champion as he covered the course in 9:53.71 and teammates Alexander Williams and Kyle Wunderli each finished in the top-10. Host New Braunfels finished in second place and put two runners in the top-10, Talmage Powell and Carson Pair. Eli Bliss (3rd) and Blake Reagan (6th) led Davenport to a fourth-place finish.
Central Catholic hosted their invitational at the NEISD Sports Park. In the boys race, a wrong turn led everyone to running an extra 600 meters but that did not deter the competitors from running well. Cole's Ilias Braxton was the individual champion with Daniel Garcia of Highlands in second place. The big story was Medina Valley taking the team title behind the running of Ezra Gonzalez, Angel Ortiz, Kyle Carpenter, Jaxon James and Nicholas Castro who finished consecutively behind the top two runners.
In the girls race, the 5K course was maintained and it was Medina Valley taking the title with only 24 points in a 4-team competition. Felicity Agee led the team with a second-place finish while Reesa Lowell was 4th and Reese Marshall was 5th. Cole freshman Katherine Zinnante took individual medalist honors in 20:48.85 on the tough course.
Saint Mary's Hall hosted a small 2-mile invitational that was won by the Cornerstone boys and girls teams. In the boys race, Israel Cuellar, Josiah Becho and Jonathan Garcia all finished among the first five runners for Cornerstone. Ian Lopez of BASIS Shavano was the individual winner in 10:44.46. Ellie Scott of SMH won the girls race in a time of 12:27.0. Mia Medina and Macy Arch led Cornerstone by finishing 2nd and 4th, respectively. Savannah Parker of San Antonio Christian took home third-place honors.
SAISD hosted a boys and girls invitational where each ran a 5K at Brooks City Base. In the girls division it was Brennan who won with 42 points over 11 other teams. Kailyn Brunson and Caila Lyons took the top two spots and it was a second straight win for Brunson who posted a time of 18:01.20. Mikayla Irby gave Brennan a third runner in the top-10. Clark took second place behind Jade Perez who took third place. Southside's Emerald Aguirre was impressive in finishing fourth with a time of 19:45.39. Wagner finished in third despite not having a top-10 runner.
In the SAISD boys race, Brennan won with 39 points and are making a push to be the top 6A team in the area. Zachary Miller was the individual champion while Dionell Delgado was third and Saul Lopez finished 10th. O'Connor took second place behind Fernando Lazo Cazares' 7th place finish. Clark's top duo of Aiden Adams and Brenden Ellis led the team to a third place finish with both finishing among the first six runners. Edison also had two runners in the top-10, Rene Gonzalez and Andrew Rosas, and took fourth as a team.
Karnes City hosted a small-school invitational where the boys ran a 2-mile course and the girls ran a 1.5-mile course. Titus Gill of the SA Spartans was the individual champion while Cooper Warrick of Stockdale took third. Pleasanton was the top local team finishing in fourth place. Brooklyn Albert and Katelyn Poth of Poth took the first two spots in the girls race but Poth only ran four runners, so they did not qualify for the team title. Pleasanton finished in second place behind a strong performance by Shalyn Gutierrez who finished in third place.
What's Happening This Week
The three big meets happening in the area this weekend are the Lockhart Hippensteel Open on Friday and the River City Invitational and Medina Valley Invitational on Saturday.